Michael Smith, Dimitri van den Bergh and Peter Wright move into Quarter-Finals at New Zealand Darts Masters

The first Quarter-Finalists are confirmed at the 2024 New Zealand Darts Masters. Albeit for two out of the three, they were certainly made to sweat in Hamilton as Peter Wright, Dimitri van den Bergh and Michael Smith moved through.

Surprisingly given his billing going into the tournament, Wright wasn't the one who was pushed. He eased past Daniel Snookes in a procession win to start the night off. He took down the debutant in a whitewash win 6-0. Only averaging 87, it was a fairly easy win for Wright with his opponent showing little in resolve only averaging 65 but he is through. He will face the winner of Gerwyn Price and Ben Robb.

Dimitri van den Bergh is through also. He took down Mark Cleaver in a spirited display and set up a potential Quarter-Final clash with Luke Littler. He played well, but Cleaver performed after a good start for the Belgian.

Van den Bergh streaked into a 2-0 lead with a 149 checkout after a second 180 but Cleaver produced a 112 to make it 5-3 to go two down as he started to push the Belgian. But it was to no avail as Van den Bergh got over the line to stop any comeback in its tracks.

Michael Smith was in trouble early in his tie. He faced Jeremy Fagg and was 2-0 down to the Aussie Number One. But after a host of opportunities were missed to make it 4-2, Smith levelled to make it 3-3. From there, Smith battled as he won four straight legs to seal it 6-3 and stave off any potential shock. Next up for Smith is Luke Humphries or Kayden Milne who are currently in action in the fourth tie of the night. Littler v Humphries is a potential semi-final, but Smith v Humphries certainly cannot be sniffed at.