De Decker dances past Van den Bergh to reach first major final at World Grand Prix 2024

Mike de Decker will play his first-ever major final on Sunday night. 'The Real Deal' followed up his brilliant participation in the World Grand Prix by reaching the final at the expense of compatriot Dimitri van den Bergh (5-2).

It was a historic night anyway for darts-loving Belgium. Never before have two Belgians faced each other in the semifinals of a PDC major. Decker won the Belgian clash and will play the winner of the match between Luke Humphries and Ryan Joyce on Sunday.

It was a game that was decided mainly on the opening doubles, which were really below par for Van den Bergh. 'The Dreammaker' needed no less than 91 arrows to open the 25 legs in this match, which amounts to an opening percentage of 27 percent. De Decker used only 51 darts for the opening dice and had an opening percentage of 49 percent.

Van den Bergh won the first set 3-0, but then the momentum quickly turned to Decker, who took the second set 3-2. However, sets three and four both went 3-0 to the darter from Mechelen, who took a 3-1 lead in sets. The tension was then somewhat restored by Van den Bergh, who took the fifth set 3-1. An important sixth set began, but Van den Bergh missed no less than thirteen darts on the opening doubles in this set. De Decker missed only four and 'The Real Deal' won the sixth set 3-0.

The task for Van den Bergh was clear; win three sets in a row to keep De Decker out of his first major final. Van den Bergh won the first leg of set seven, but the reigning UK Open champion missed six chances moments later to lead 2-1. Decker then did just that, after which Decker then closed it with a 13-darter.