Nathan Aspinall has been crowned the champion of the 2025
European Darts Open in Leverkusen! 'The Asp' has defeated Damon Heta 8-6 to claim his second
European Tour title of the season.
Already on Sunday evening, both Heta and Aspinall had shown some strong performances. For the Australian number one, his place in the final was booked by wins over Matt Campbell in last leg decider in the quarter-finals, before he comfortably dispatched
Jonny Clayton 7-3 in the semis. Aspinall meanwhile, overcame the challenges of Chris Dobey in the quarter-finals, and Wessel Nijman in the semi-finals, both in last leg deciders.
Early on in the final, it was all about 'The Asp' as he raced into a 2-0 lead with legs of 13 and 11 darts. Heta is a very tricky customer though, and as proven consistently throughout the last few years, very rarely gets beaten without putting up a fight. A 15-darter saw the Aussie pull one back and get a leg on the board at 1-2 down. After a doubling disaster from Aspinall in the next leg, it was all square again at 2-2.
Heta then turned up the heat in leg 5, pinning a fabulous 140 checkout to nudge infront. Despite some more dodgy doubling by Aspinall in the next leg, he did eventually find double 5 for 3-3.
With the legs two legs going with the darts, the halfway mark of the final was reached with still nothing to separate the pair at 4-4. As the the holds of throw continued and the finish line neared, tensions were rising. And the first man to blink was Heta, missing an opportunity in leg 11 to allow Aspinall to get a break of throw in front at 6-5.
Criminally though, Aspinall failed to capitalise, blowing numerous chances on the outer ring for a 7-5 lead. Heta punished to get back level at 6-6. With the pressure now clearly getting to the players, both missed chances for a 7-6 lead. In the end, it was Aspinall that took the leg though, to move to the brink. Despite more drama in the next leg, Aspinall took that too to seal the title win.