Dirk van Duijvenbode powered past reigning champion Gerwyn Price to reach the last 16 of the NEObet European Darts Open on Saturday, as Raymond van Barneveld dumped out Luke Humphries in Leverkusen. 👉✍️ bit.ly/ET8D2
Dirk van Duijvenbode managed to reach the third round of the European Darts Open on Saturday night with a sensational 6-2 victory over Gerwyn Price. With this victory over 'The Iceman' Van Duijvenbode showed again that he is on the way up after months of struggling with a persistent shoulder injury.
The darter from 's-Gravenzande thus took a nice revenge on Price. The Welshman had beaten Van Duijvenbode 8-7 in the final of this tournament last year, after the Dutchman had missed several matchdarts.
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Price now managed to win two of the first three legs, but with an 11-darter and a 15-darter Van Duijvenbode took over the lead. With a 17-darter and an 80 finish 'Aubergenius' then extended his lead to 5-2. Van Duijvenbode then finished the job with a 16-dart leg. The two-time major finalist recorded an average of 102.58 and a 67 checkout percentage.
A happy Van Duijvenbode then faced mastercaller Philip Brzezinski for a review of his match. "My confidence is not there yet, but I feel like I’m getting back to where I used to be," Van Duijvenbode said.
During training, the Dutchman already noticed that he was in good shape. ''I had a nine-darter in practice yesterday (Friday, ed), today (Saturday, ed.) I hit two in 30 minutes in practice. I’ve never done that in my life and now I’ve hit three in 24 hours!''
On Sunday afternoon, Van Duijvenbode will take on Martin Schindler in the third round. ''I feel determined to show people that Dirk is not done. I feel like I’m getting closer, but I’m not done, I promise you!''
The third round of the European Darts Open will take place on Sunday afternoon, before the tournament concludes with the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final in a bumper evening session at the Ostermann-Arena.
Dirk van Duijvenbode powered past reigning champion Gerwyn Price to reach the last 16 of the NEObet European Darts Open on Saturday, as Raymond van Barneveld dumped out Luke Humphries in Leverkusen. 👉✍️ bit.ly/ET8D2