BULLY BOY WINS A BELTER! Michael Smith survives a match dart at the bull as he clinches victory in an absolute CRACKER! He defeats James Wade 6-5... 📺 bit.ly/PDCTVLive | #ET8
Michael Smith survives in James Wade thriller as Dimitri van den Bergh produces 109 average in Meikle thrashing
PDCFriday, 21 June 2024 at 22:46
The opening day has concluded in Leverkusen with Michael Smith, Luke Woodhouse, Dirk van Duijvenbode and Dimitri van den Bergh through to the Last 32 at the European Darts Open.
Smith saw off James Wade in a thrilling clash to follow on from the Raymond van Barneveld tie as he survived a match dart at the bull from Wade after missing 108 himself for the match. He fell over the line after that missed match dart with Wade so close to inflicting an early loss on 'Bully Boy'.
With even Michael van Gerwen's seeded status technically going, no big name is safe from the opening night and Smith is one of those as he just about averted an early loss. He averaged 97 and hit two 180's with a high checkout of 116. But Wade himself played his part ironically hitting a higher average than his opponent and better doubling including three ton plus checkouts. Among those included a 125 checkout to make it 2-2. He also crashed in a 102 and 121 back-to-back to make it 4-3 up in the tie. But showing the fine margins, he had the chance to win and didn't take it. This allowed Smith to swoop in and snatch it.
Luke Woodhouse was a bit more of a simpler task but it was one of the displays of the day as he took down Mike de Decker. It was 'Woody' who was 'The Real Deal' as he claimed a 6-3 success over the Belgian. He hit a 97 average, four 180's and 6/18 on the outer ring. It was the doubling in reality that was the achilles heel of the Belgian.
He hit only 3/17 accounting for 17.6% in the tie despite accruing a similar average to his opponent. Next up is Dave Chisnall for Woodhouse who continues to show great form.
As did Dirk van Duijvenbode who won five legs on the spin in order to move through against Gabriel Clemens. In a night that sees Netherlands play in the Euro's, he seemed to be in a mood to give the Dutch fans something to celebrate even if they lose to France.
Clemens was in similar scoring fettle to his opponent. But mainly focused on his doubles. Van Duijvenbode's hot streak saw him not miss a single dart at the doubles. While Clemens only hit 3/10 wasting opportunities. Next up is Gerwyn Price for the Aubergenius but will it be a Double Dutch success in the football too? Time will tell.
But while Belgium lost their first match of the tournament in Germany, Dimitri van den Bergh won his first in Leverkusen to complete the night with a thumping of Ryan Meikle in a performance that will be hard to top all tournament.
He won 6-1 with a 109.45 average in a terrific display which saw the Belgian hit 85.7% of his doubles and a high checkout of 100. That 100 was to win it 6-1 with an 11-darter. After Meikle hit a 121 checkout on the bull for 4-1 down, Van den Bergh said I can do better than that and hit a 10 darter to go one away from the win before producing an 11-darter for the win. Stupendous from the Dreammaker.
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