In a tense, tight battle between Dimitri Van den Bergh and Jonny Clayton, it was the Belgian who emerged the victor, making it through to the semi-finals of the PDC World Darts Championship for the very first time in his career.
"I feel like I'm one step closer to making my dreams come true," Van den Bergh reflected post-match. "It was a real battle. There were a few times that I felt comfortable and confident and I seemed to produce a chance. Normally, especially in the tournament so far, when I produce a chance I take it but this time I didn't."
In a rollercoaster matchup where neither player could truly wrestle control of the momentum, it was Van den Bergh who began to play his best darts as the game neared its climax. Firing in a total of 13 maximums, Van den Bergh rallied from 3-2 down to win the final three sets and finally end his quarter-final woes at the third attempt.
Having twice before reached the last eight at the Ally Pally, losing out to Rob Cross and Nathan Aspinall in 2018 and 2020 respectively, the Dreammaker was over the moon to finally reach the semi-finals. "I'm stoked. I'm really happy," he said. "It's special to finally pull through. They always say 'third time is the right time' and today it happened."
Van den Bergh's opponent in the semi-finals will be the three-time former World Champion, Michael van Gerwen. Despite the unenviable task that lies ahead of him, Van den Bergh is high on confidence. "I'm not afraid of anybody. If Dimitri rocks up the way he can everyone has to fear me, it doesn't matter how good you are."
Place comments
0 Comments
You are currently seeing only the comments you are notified about, if you want to see all comments from this post, click the button below.
Show all comments