Fantastic Gian van Veen and Ryan Searle setup semifinal at Hungarian Darts Trophy 2024

Gian van Veen has reached the semifinals of a Euro Tour tournament for the first time in his career on Sunday evening. In a Dutch quarterfinal, he reached the last four at the Hungarian Darts Trophy at the expense of Wessel Nijman.

The 22-year-old dart player from the Netherlands had reached the quarter-finals four times in the past year and a half, but each time that round was the end of the line. Now Van Veen managed to reach this milestone. Van Veen had a good start to the match and broke Nijman in the first leg with a 14-darter. GVV The Giant followed up that break with two 12-darters to run out to 3-0.

Nijman then threw an 11-darter to take his first leg. Van Veen was not impressed and thundered on to a 5-1 lead. Nijman took the seventh leg with a 13-darter, before Van Veen decided the game with an 18-darter.

In the semifinals, Van Veen will take on Ryan Searle. 'Heavy Metal,' who previously eliminated two-time world champion Peter Wright, triumphed 6-3 against Daryl Gurney. Nevertheless, it was Gurney who started the match better. With a 13-darter and a 14-darter, "Superchin" took a 2-0 lead. Moments later, it was even 3-1 via a 52 finish.

Then Searle began his comeback. With a 13-darter and a 66 finish, Searle came back to 3-3. Throwing a 135 finish then gave the Englishman his first lead of the match. In the eighth leg, Gurney again was not out within five innings. Searle took advantage and made it 5-3 with a 13-darter. Searle then ended the match with another 13-darter.

For Searle, it was already the seventh time this season that he played a quarterfinal on the Euro Tour. This time, however, was the first time this year that he actually managed to reach the last four.