There are two
European Tour titles left up for grabs this year; the
European Darts Grand Prix will be decided this very evening.
It wouldn't be a European Tour Saturday without at least a couple of seeds being sent packing. This time, it was Dave Chisnall, Krzysztof Ratajski and Daryl Gurney who got the chop. But
Michael van Gerwen and
Gerwyn Price avenged German Darts Championship losses and head up a field mostly filled by the seeded players.
Maik Kuivenhoven was the one who sent Daryl Gurney packing - with a deciding leg that would be the envy of any player in the world. It's a reminder of the depth of talent in the Pro Tour when you remember that the Dutchman is poised to drop out of it. There's still time for a rescue; knocking
Glen Durrant out would help a great deal. And even despite recently winning the Premier League, Duzza's currently quite a bit short of his astronomical best.
Ian White continues his defence in the second game. Both he and Michael Smith cruised through their openers - Smith did so in more spectacular circumstances, posting the best average of the day bar one and handing Derk Telnekes a bagel.
Darius Labanauskas is making a habit of beating top players, and it's not hard to see Lucky D continuing to rise up the rankings. He'll aid that effort by making it to the evening session, but first he's got to beat Joe Cullen - something he hasn't done before, and something Kim Huybrechts wasn't close to doing yesterday.
The fourth match looks like a major highlight. There's Gerwyn Price, the sort of top pro who'd see a 40 finish and do something like, I don't know, aim at the double 20. And probably hit it first dart, too. And then there's Jose de Sousa,
who is...Jose de Sousa. I, for one, hope he never changes.
Mensur Suljovic needed to be on his toes to keep the dangerous David Evans at arm's length. He ended up doing more than that, piling in a tournament-high 105.43 average. He's set himself, and his opponents, a very high bar. Jamie Hughes scraped through against Steve Lennon and will face a big challenge here.
It has become a bit of a formality that Krzysztof Ratajski appears on the last day of a European Tour event, so for him not to be around in Sindelfingen is a bit of a surprise. It's all thanks to Martijn Kleermaker's performance, which was a vast improvement on his Friday showing. With more of that, the big Dutchman could cause Rob Cross all sorts of bother.
James Wade and Nathan Aspinall butt heads in the penultimate game of the session. We were treated to peak Wadeyness on Saturday, not that Gabriel Clemens will be thankful. A James Wade averaging 100 is an ominous prospect for anyone.
There's bad news for Michael van Gerwen, as he probably won't be getting a Vincent van der Voort pep talk today. Why? Because Vincent van der Voort probably wants to send him packing. It should be a decent spectacle between two top Dutch stars who definitely have plenty left in the tank.
European Darts Grand Prix Schedule
Sunday October 18
Third Round
Afternoon Session (12:00 GMT)
Maik Kuivenhoven v Glen Durrant
Ian White v Michael Smith
Darius Labanauskas v Joe Cullen
Gerwyn Price v Jose De Sousa
Mensur Suljovic v Jamie Hughes
Martijn Kleermaker v Rob Cross
James Wade v Nathan Aspinall
Michael van Gerwen v Vincent van der Voort