Dimitri Van den Bergh captured the second major title of his career on Sunday night. 'The Dreammaker' was a dramatic 11-10 winner against Luke Humphries in the final of the UK Open, although not everyone praised his performance afterwards.
Van den Bergh missed several matchdarts at both 10-8 and 10-9, allowing Humphries to force the match into a deciding leg. As the match got nearer and nearer to it's conclusion, van den Bergh took longer and longer to throw his darts, repeatedly going back to his table to try and settle himself, sometimes taking literal minutes every turn.
Post-match on ITV4, ex-pro turned analyst, Chris Mason was quite critical of van den Bergh's tactics. "It was a great final. Tense, exciting, dramatic, but the one standout thing for me was Dimitri nearly being the creator of his own downfall," Mason reflected. "Throughout the match he was anything but a good dance partner and this being such a knowledgeable crowd they picked up on it and they turned on him. Very fortunate in the end to get over the line."
"It's just overly dramatic and really, not particularly sporting," Mason continued. "People ask me, why do we speak so highly if Luke Humphries? Well look how magnanimous he was in defeat there. He's a great winner but he's also a great runner-up on this occasion. I just didn't like the whole way that the final was played and it put Luke right out of his stride."
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