Rock smashes Van Gerwen in astonishing whitewash win, set to face Clayton in Austrian Darts Open Final
PDCSunday, 23 April 2023 at 21:53
The battle for the green jacket has reached the final at the Austrian Darts Open and Michael van Gerwen will not add to his tally in Graz this year after an astonishing whitewash win for Josh Rock thrashing 'The Green Machine' 7-0.
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Van Gerwen looked shell shocked as Rock sealed his first win over the imperious Dutchman with a 95 average and 70% on the doubles as MVG failed to convert eight darts at a double throughout the tie.
It is a first European Tour final for Rock with Van Gerwen losing in Graz for the first time since 2016.
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Rock started with a break converting double 16 for 1-0 before converting a 13 darter on double 12 for 2-0.
Van Gerwen was left chasing on 128 with Rock hitting back-to-back 140's and he hit double five last dart in hand for 3-0.
MVG missed darts to cut the arrears at 4-0 and Rock hit double 20 which he seemed to have on a string throughout the contest and made it 5-0.
Hitting the treble 18 in going for 86, Van Gerwen looked for his first leg but missed two darts again and Rock made it 6-0 before converting double 20 after you guessed it, Van Gerwen missed darts at a double.
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In that final, Jonny Clayton who has won that green jacket before is the player that stands in his way.
From the sublime to the remarkable as he produced an epic comeback to see off Daryl Gurney in the first semi-final.
He reeled off four consecutive legs from 6-3 and on the brink down to a resurgent 'Superchin' but 'The Ferret' surged over the line in a decider and now faces Rock.
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- I loved Jan and loved his walk on music "Explode" by Jordan & Baker. I think if he stuck around the BDO he definitely would have been World Champion, should have won in 2014, he never really showed any of his talent in the PDC. I remembered he worked in a bank or in finance and maybe that was his priority, he was also a fan and interested in magic. Definitely should have achieved much more in darts than he did. Wherever you are nowadays Jan, hope all is well and I was always a fan.richieburnettrocks11-09-2026
- Not much of a tournament really,is it? Now they've all pulled out,it's open for everyone. I'm sure if you bought tickets,you'd be disappointed. Doesn't that seem to bother the withdrawals? Not at all!!rick6710-09-2026
- Need to see her take part in the womens tour. She'll break the inernet.medinabello08-09-2026
- If he can be bothered? He won't play darts in Germany yet he'll go over and get an award!??rick6702-09-2026
- Why is this the main story? He chose not to compete in loads of tournaments,yes he's number 1 in the world,but he does have to turn up at tournaments! Play the next world championship in Dortmund and see if he turns up!!rick6727-08-2026
- This is exactly what I mean,littler survives the 1st round,I think you'll find a lot of other players did. Can you just report on the real sport,and not just 1 person. I like Luke,but this is getting boring now,as Kevin painter once said to Taylor!! The sport is about every player,not 1 who everyone seems to have put the sport on the map.,which he hasn't,he's just got in when the money is massive. Great as he is,it seems like what's the point in anyone trying,he's going to win everything,unless it's in Germany or Australia!!!rick6726-08-2026
- I mean look, Littler's picture is first,wattimena is second and he won! Level it up. I know littler is fantastic,but the sport was here before him,and will be when he's retired. Any player in the top 64/128 can beat each other,it's not big news. Poor Jermaine,wins it,and not even the headline!!rick6726-08-2026
- I appreciate that littler is a fantastic player,but the top 3 articles are about him. Before he'd thrown a dart in the tournament. Level it out a bit, Taylor and van gerwen soon got disliked as the media could only see them,and nobody else seemed to matterrick6725-08-2026
- The two-point Lucky Loser qualifiers are Ross Smith, Robb, Whitlock, Sakai, Ilagan and Toylo. Jermaine is not on the entries list on Dartconnect for the TCH qualifier so the four from the main OoM are probably Searle, Nijman, Dobey, Wattimena.Scoobedybop24-08-2026
- The two-point Lucky Loser qualifiers are Ross Smith, Robb, Whitlock, Sakai, Ilagan and Toylo. Jermaine is not on the entries list on Dartconnect for the TCH qualifier so the four from the main OoM are probably Searle, Nijman, Dobey, Wattimena.Scoobedybop24-08-2026
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