Van Gerwen seals 34th European Tour title with fourth Austrian Darts Open triumph defeating Noppert in final

The green jacket is once again heading the way of Michael van Gerwen as he seals a 34th European Tour title, a fourth at the Austrian Darts Open and a second of 2022 with three ranking titles now his this year after defeating Danny Noppert 8-5 in the final in Graz.

A tricky test coming in due to Noppert winning their last three games and seemingly having a hoodoo over 'The Green Machine' but a different proposition with his first European Tour final.

As Noppert never clicked fully into gear, MVG was able to surge away and seal it with a 98 average, highest checkout of 121 and 44.4% on his doubles in another confidence booster for the World Number Three.

Noppert missed the big number on 72 so only got one dart and allowed Van Gerwen back for 50 to go 2-0 up with a break of throw.

A 180 and 47 checkout saw Van Gerwen make his lead 3-0 with a hold. A 180 for Noppert wasn’t followed with more missed darts to hold but Van Gerwen missed chances to break back and ‘The Freeze’ finally held at 3-1 down.

Noppert followed it up with a 120 checkout to make it 3-2 as he looked to kick into life and level up. A 70 checkout saw him do so.

A 121 checkout saw Van Gerwen reply with a 12-darter but it was a mute celebration as he looked to stick to the task at hand.

Noppert missed double 11 for a 124 but it was 126 missed on double six from MVG and the former finally pinned a target that was alluding him to make it 4-4.

A 74 checkout saw MVG go ahead again as the legs continued to tick down at 5-4 up. On we went as Noppert held throw to make it 5-5.

Van Gerwen held on double 11 to make it 6-5. He missed 145 on double 20 to break but returned with Noppert missing 62 to hold and Van Gerwen went one away. Noppert hit 180 to leave double 13 on Van Gerwen’s throw but MVG hit double 20 to seal it.