Michael Smith edges decider with De Sousa as Wessel Nijman completes second round lineup at 2024 World Series of Darts

Michael Smith and Wessel Nijman have became the final names to book their spots in the second round at the 2024 World Series of Darts Finals in Amsterdam.

In an excellent debut year on the PDC Pro Tour, Nijman qualified for the World Series of Darts Finals via the Tour Card qualifying tournament. He was originally scheduled to take on Nathan Aspinall, but 'The Asp' is still recovering from an arm injury and withdrew. Subsequently, former UK Open champion Andrew Gilding was designated to replace Aspinall.

Nijman quickly distanced himself significantly from his English opponent. He broke Gilding right away with an 80 finish, and with a 60 check-out and a 14-darter the Dutchman rushed to a 3-0 lead. Two 15-darters then brought the score to a comfortable 5-0 lead. A whitewash it did not become, as Gilding threw a 17-darter in the sixth leg to still get on the scoreboard. Gilding did not get any further than that one leg. With his fifth matchdart, Nijman finished the job in the seventh leg.

Late Saturday afternoon, Michael Smith became the last player to qualify for the second round at the World Series of Darts Finals. 'Bullyboy' defeated Jose de Sousa 6-5.

Smith fell behind 2-0 early in the match against De Sousa, who started strong with a 12-darter and a 13-darter. Smith responded with two 14-darters to even the score. Then, thanks to a 117 finish in the fifth leg, De Sousa regained the lead. De Sousa then missed a chance to make it 4-2, but Smith could not capitalize on this miss, throwing two darts just wide of the double 8. His Portuguese opponent then missed three more doubles before it still became 3-3. The Englishman then took the lead for the first time in the match with a 65 finish.

The next three legs went with the darts, requiring a deciding leg to decide a winner. Both men missed a matchdart before Smith managed to pull the trigger via double 8.