World Series of Darts Finals Tour Card Qualifier Round-up | Rob Cross sinks van Duijvenbode as Doets, Rydz and Sedlacek all qualify for major event

The World Series of Darts Finals is the next big major event set to get the full attention of darts fans, taking place in Amsterdam from September 17-20. Michael van Gerwen is the reigning champion with a stacked field set to battle it out for glory. This has now been complete following the Tour Card holders qualifying having taken place today in Leicester.

Along with van Gerwen, the likes of Luke Littler, Luke Humphries, Gian van Veen, Jonny Clayton, Gerwyn Price and Stephen Bunting will make the trip hopeful of collecting the title, but for today the top players sat out and followed events from afar. Four spots were on offer, with the most opportunistic darters on the day taking advantage.

With eight remaining, only four players would be able to make the cut. The most notable tie was Rob Cross against Dirk van Duijvenbode. Both defeated former world champions in Peter Wright and Raymond van Barneveld respectively in the prior round, and only one of the former finalists could march on.

It would be Cross who prevailed 6-3. He only dropped two legs against Carl Sneyd and Brendan Dolan before ‘Snakebite’ gave him something to think about. A 4-5 deficit was overturned and the recent World Matchplay semi-finalist was defeated as Cross cements his return for a fourth year on the bounce.

Different darting fortunes would fall the way of fellow Dutchman Kevin Doets who continues a fine season on the oche with a third consecutive World Series of Darts Finals confirmed. Dennie Olde Kalter, Ricky Evans and most notably former UK Open winner Andrew Gilding were sent packing before Maik Kuivenhoven was defeated 6-3. No huge averages fans have been accustomed to by ‘Hawkeye’ but a solid string of wins to book his spot in the major event.

Karel Sedlacek will soon make his World Series of Darts Finals debut after a brilliant showing against Owen Bates, averaging 105.22 to win 6-4. It was his third ton+ average of the day with ‘Evil Charlie’ finding his best darts at the right time to secure another big breakthrough.

Another player set to feature for the first time is Callan Rydz who blew away the 2017 Daryl Gurney 6-2 in the final match of the day. After tight wins over Mervyn King, Steffan Bellmont and Niko Springer, he dropped just two legs in the final two matches. A whitewash win over Robert Owen was then followed by the Gurney coup and a welcoming return to form after a bit of a barren spell for the two-time PDC World Championship quarter-finalist.

There were a number of big names in action today, all hopeful of securing a place in the major event. One of them was Beau Greaves who was full of confidence after her latest Women’s Series success yesterday. However, her day ended almost instantly against Adam Gawlas in a 6-3 defeat.

The likes of Martin Schindler, Mike De Decker, Ritchie Edhouse and Ricardo Pietreczko exited in the last-64 with Cristo Reyes being dumped out with a 106.67 average.

Two-time finalist Michael Smith fell to an impressive Justin Hood a round later with the number one seed Luke Woodhouse unable to secure his qualification. The likes of Wright and van Barneveld came close, but could not take that extra step.