Van den Bergh reaches maiden European Tour quarter-final, set to face Clayton after all-Welsh clash with Williams
PDC
Dimitri van den Bergh has broken new ground in terms of the European Tour with ‘The Dreammaker’ reaching his maiden Quarter-Final after a dominant 6-1 win over his compatriot, Brian Raman at the International Darts Open.
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Van den Bergh produced a 99 average, a sole 180 but 40% on the doubles including a high checkout of 119 to win through and claim a spot in the final session for the first time.
The aforementioned highest checkout was pinned in the opening leg with Van den Bergh sending a message early on after Raman missed a 145 to hold. His opponent got a leg on the board at 2-1 down but this proved to be solitary.
A 15-darter on double 16 saw Van den Bergh hold and he pinned the same target for a 4-1 lead after Raman couldn’t pin 81 before sealing the win in style with an 82 checkout using bull-double 16.
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He will now face Jonny Clayton who edged through the all-Welsh encounter with rising talent Lewy Williams sealing it 6-4 with a 96 average, a high checkout of 134 and 46.2% on the doubles.
‘The Ferret’ went 3-1 up in the early going with that 134 checkout as he stole a march but Williams returned to the foray and took the lead at 4-3.
But Williams missed the chance for four legs on the spin and could have been one away but Clayton levelled up instead at 4-4 with ‘The Prince of Wales’ still throwing for a 5-4 lead instead of the win.
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But he was left frustrated by a lack of scoring power and Clayton popped up with a 129 set up to leave 32 which he pinned to go one away where he had the throw which he sealed to move into the Quarter-Finals.
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- I agree,I can't believe the lack of coverage of this sad loss. Always enjoyed watching him,but I guess now it's all about littler,well it seems that way. Darts has sadly lost a good manrick6717-10-2026
- In the absence of a report regarding the death of Stefan Lord, I'll assist. An excellent player in the late 70s and early 80s, he actually won the now defunct 3rd place match at two World Championships and a couple of the News of the World Championships. A fabulous player and easily the best Swedish player ever. Rest peacefully Stefan.richieburnettrocks16-10-2026
- Joking aside, it is the second most watched sport on sky (more than golf, F1 etc) behind football only, and in participation is second to only football and swimming. It doesn't get the attention or sponsorship of "bigger" sports because it's not as sexy, but it's right up there.BandB13-10-2026
- i love darts but you can't seriously believe it's the second most popular sport in the uk. even top five is pushing it. it may be the fastest growing, though.colt13-10-2026
- I'm a big Clayton fan, but he's got this completely wrong. Qualification criteria exists for a reason - so just as failing to make the top 32/64 for the Euro championships/PT Finals means you miss out, so does not lifting a title for this one.26sForFun12-10-2026
- The players who deliberately slow the game down are usually boring and win very little in the way of silverware. Horrible to watch.MrYnyslas197112-10-2026
- [“The Gentle” then used a sweeping and questionable phrase...] You anglocucks are hilariously finished in every sense of the word.Critical99911-10-2026
- I love Jonny but I disagree. The Grand Slam was always supposed to be "champion of champions" type competition. If the top 16 are guaranteed participation in everything there will be so much less jeopardy involved in qualifying and each major tournament will lose its unique flavour which the PDC has worked hard trying to develop. I enjoy following the qualification races towards the end of the year, and while consistency should have its rewards, the truth is Jonny hasn't reached a major final all year or won a single event on the Pro Tour. Being consistent is one thing, but that alone should have consequences as the sport's elite should not be prepared to accept consistently strong performances, their foremost motivation should be to win and this should be what separates them from the rest, not the consistency of their performances. Jonny is expecting that losing should be enough; it shouldn't be, at least not as far as the Grand Slam is concerned.Deduce635811-10-2026
- Well being honest,it doesn't matter what level you play at, there's always someone who slows it down to suit themselves,and extra swig of water, replacing flights, asking the ref what the score is. It happens wherever. I'm not saying it's professional,but I'm sure we've all seen it beforerick6711-10-2026
- Agree completely. Not sure how a ranking event can have a criteria not based on rankings. And he right on popularity. In the UK second only to football.BandB11-10-2026
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