''Even got a nine darter in the warm-up room'' - Jeffrey De Graaf shocks Jose de Sousa to reach third round at the World Championships
PDCFriday, 22 December 2023 at 19:30
Jeffrey de Graaf is still undefeated as a Swede at the World Darts Championship. On Friday afternoon, the 33-year-old dart player recorded a surprising 3-1 victory over Jose de Sousa, who was seeded 25th in London.
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De Graaf had participated in the World Darts Championship six times in the past as a Dutchman, but never managed to get past the first round. Since 2019, however, he has been living in Sweden with his girlfriend and since this season, De Graaf also holds Swedish citizenship.
He immediately ended his streak of no victories at the World Darts Championship. In the first round against Ritchie Edhouse, he turned an 0-2 deficit into a 3-2 victory and now former Grand Slam champion De Sousa has also been felled. ''You switch countries once and you win right away. Maybe I should have played for Sweden earlier'', he joked after his new shock in conversation with AD.nl.
De Graaf felt prior to the match that he was going to have a good day. The warm-up went great. ''I even managed to throw in a nine-darter, but yes, you want to show that on stage of course." That almost succeeded in the third set, when De Graaf started with two 180s, but a nine-darter was not achieved.
The Dutch native had traveled to London without family for the World Darts Championship, but will take some family members with him after Christmas for the next round. At least his girlfriend will cross over to England. "Haha, yeah, I think more people will come along then. We have to see if they can get time off, but at least my girlfriend gets to come along."
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A tough draw awaits De Graaf in the last 32, as none other than former world champion Rob Cross will be the opponent. 'Voltage' made a shaky impression in his first match against Thibault Tricole, but eventually won the match 3-0. ''In the end, he won easily,'' De Graaf said. ''But he will have to throw better. I assume he will. Actually I have to be extra careful because of that."
Kieran WoodDarts Journalist
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He contributes to DartsNews.com, where he covers professional darts through news, match reports, analysis, and live coverage across the PDC calendar and major tournaments.
A key part of his work is on-site reporting from leading events. Kieran has covered the PDC World Darts Championship in person, reporting daily from the venue and providing first-hand insight from the tournament. During his coverage, he has conducted interviews with leading players including Luke Littler, Luke Humphries, and Gerwyn Price.
He is also one of the leading voices of the English-language Dartsnews Podcast, contributing regular analysis and discussion on developments across the professional darts circuit.
In his reporting, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles when new, verified information becomes available.
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