"I've beaten him a few times now" - Damon Heta believes Michael van Gerwen's aura of invincibility is well and truly gone

Damon Heta ensured there would be a new name on the Eric Bristow Trophy on Thursday night. The Australian dumped out a below-par Michael van Gerwen 10-7, with a ruthless display of doubling.

“I’m absolutely stoked with the win,” Heta told Sky Sports on stage, immediately following his victory. “I had so many trebleless visits, but my checkout percentage was great, and that is what wins you games! Obviously Michael didn’t turn up tonight, but things just happened for me in that second session and I was riding the wave.”

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"Players these days, they like to step up and beat these guys. They love all the attention around it when you do beat him because yeah, it gets talked about doesn't it," Heta tells Online Darts, confirming van Gerwen's aura of invincibility is well and truly gone nowadays.

"I've beaten him a few times now you know, whether on a stage or not I've done that," Heta continues, referencing among others, his 10-4 success over the three-time World Champion at the 2022 UK Open. "So there's no reason why I can't keep on doing it."

Courtesy of this win over van Gerwen, Heta is into the top-10 of the world rankings for the first time in his career. "That was the goal at the start of the year and like I said you've got to beat these sort of guys in these big tournaments at whatever stages to get to top 10. You don't beat them you're not going to get there."

Into his second major quarter-final of the year, Heta faces Rob Cross for a place in the last four.

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