04/10/2023

Liam Maendl-Lawrance successful on SDC Tour

On Sunday, October 1, the tenth SDC Tour tournament of the season took place. A total of 128 players participated, including 95 players with SDC Tour Cards and 33 reserve players.

The tournament was played in 32 groups of four players each. Only the top two from each group were allowed to advance to the final 64. Of the 32 seeded players, Benjamin Brügin, Joel Stauffer, Marco Haller and Fabian Schor did not make it to the final 64.

Liam Maendl-Lawrance lost a group match against Luis Camacho to finish second in his group. He then faced Lukas Dallmann in the last 64 and beat him 4-3 thanks to a 121 finish for a 12-darter in the last leg. A somewhat surprising defeat was for Roger Hertig who beat Dominic Mahren 4-3.

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In the last 32, we saw Rocco Fulciniti who threw an average of 96 to win 4-0 against Fabian Limacher. Thomas Aeschimann and Mark Bichsel played a hard-fought match, which Aeschimann eventually won 4-3. Ansh Sood, Patrick Ganter and Frieder Lang were also eliminated in this round.

Marcel Walpen's tournament came to an end at the last sixteen. He lost 4-2 to Austrian Michael Woraczek. Luis Camacho went down against Rocco Fulciniti, while Jochen Graudenz, Andy Bless and Maendl-Lawrance managed to advance to the quarterfinals.

Two Austrians and two Germans then made it to the final four. Woraczek won 5-3 over Fulciniti, and Graudenz was 5-2 too strong for Christoph Schuhmann. Senad Velagic was responsible for eliminating Thomas Aeschimann (5-1), and Maendl-Lawrance became the last semifinalist after a 5-2 victory over Andy Bless.

In the semifinals, it was Germany against Austria twice, with the Germans winning each time. Graudenz conceded only one leg against Woraczek (6-1), while Maendl-Lawrance recorded a whitewash against Velagic (6-0).

Maendl-Lawrance then started the final excellently by claiming the first four legs via two 14-darters, a 15-darter and a 16-darter. It wasn't until the fifth leg that Graudenz got on the scoreboard. Moments later, Graudenz also made it 2-5. It then became 6-2 and then Maendl-Lawrance was able to finish it off with a 170 finish, but he missed a matchdart on the bullseye. The German then hit the double 8 to claim the title.