Mike De Decker has qualified for the final of a PDC major for the first time in his career. 'The Real Deal' was too strong for Dimitri Van den Bergh in an all-Belgian semifinal, emerging a 5-2 winner. He will take on Luke Humphries in tonight's final.
It was a historic night anyway for darts-loving Belgium. Never before have two Belgians faced each other in the semifinals of a PDC major. It was a game that was decided mainly on the opening doubles, which were really below par for Van den Bergh. 'The Dreammaker' needed no less than 91 arrows to open the 25 legs in this match, which amounts to an opening percentage of 27 percent. De Decker used only 51 darts for the opening dice and had an opening percentage of 49 percent.
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"I'm over the moon - really, really happy," reflected a delighted De Decker afterwards. "In the beginning of the game I was really nervous. There's been so much attention on this game and when I took the second set I relaxed, knowing that I can still play."
"Dimitri had a couple of sets where he wasn't starting off and I took advantage," the Belgian continues. "I'm loving the feeling of winning, the crowd have given me so much support and I'm really looking forward to tomorrow."
When it comes to that final, De Decker could make history and become just the second Belgian, after Van den Bergh, to ever win a PDC major. Given the fact he's playing the all-conquering world champion and world number one though, De Decker isn't getting too ahead of himself. "No Luke will always be the favourite. No,no no Luke will always be the massive favourite," he insists.
The 28-year-old Belgian's final place at this World Grand Prix also assures his participation in the Grand Slam of Darts next month. "That's a nice bonus, that way I don't have to play a qualifying tournament anymore and I have some extra rest. Whether I'm already thinking about the Premier League Darts? No, not at all. I'm just now in the top 30 of the world rankings, the Premier League Darts is more something for the top 8, that's still far away."