Vincent van der Voort saw 'mentally strong' Kevin Doets: "Although you also saw at the end that panic struck at one point"

Kevin Doets provided a resounding shock on Thursday night by eliminating world number two Michael Smith at the World Darts Championship.

The Dutchman still had a score to settle with 'Bullyboy' as he was eliminated in the second round by the Brit last year. Vincent van der Voort in the podcast of sportnieuws.nl shed light on this spectacular victory of his compatriot, and looked ahead to Friday night's match of Michael van Gerwen.

As for Van der Voort, this was by far the "match of the tournament" so far. "I thought it was a really entertaining match. It was also clever how Doets handled the whole situation," 'The Dutch Destroyer' began his review of the match. "First being behind, then preventing again and then Smith came back with all those high finishes. If you can then stay so calm and throw out that second last leg 90 and immediately start again with 180, that's really very clever."

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Despite Doets' many misses in the first set, he maintained his focus handsomely and straightened his back. "That means he is mentally strong after all, because he put that behind him pretty quickly. At one point he was all in," Van der Voort noted. "Because we have to remember that Smith was also pitching really well. In that last one he was also all over the place at one point only he didn't get rid of Doets."

"If you throw three 140's at 4-4 you normally think I have some space. But then Doets throws 180 which puts him on 90 and then there is a lot of pressure again. It was really a bizarre high level in that last set. Then it is all the more amazing that Kevin pulls it out, because often it is the experienced player who then wins."

Van der Voort also believe that last year's match, in which Doets was still eliminated by Smith in the second round of the World Championdhip, was in the back of the Dutchman's mind. "I definitely think that played into it, he had gone through that experience now. He was more ready for it now as he was last year."

"Although you could also see at the end that panic set in at one point, but that's very recognizable," the 49-year-old continued. "When you are on tops for the match you think with three darts in your hand 'this one is mine'. Then the first two go wrong and you only have one left in your hand, it has to go in and then so much goes through your body. Then it often becomes more hope than skill, but it went in nicely and he is to be congratulated."

Friday night Michael van Gerwen, good friend of Van der Voort, will finally make his appearance at the World Championship. 'The Dutch Destroyer' looks forward to his match with confidence, but is especially curious how he will do. "Normally I think 'Well this is okay, he's going to win', but this is the first time in 10/12 years that he goes to the tournament with a lot of question marks and I'm curious to see how he handles that."

"Of course it has been a lean year for him, especially the last tournaments with the European Championship, the World Grand Prix and the Grand Slam of Darts. I am really curious to see how he handles that himself, he has been training hard and I think besides me a lot of people are looking forward to seeing how far he is now," Van der Voort concluded.