Chris Landman has defeated
Jelle Klaasen 5-3 in the semifinals of the WDF World Championship. Klaasen gave up a 1-3 lead in sets, Landman cleverly took four in a row and won the match. Chris Landman will thus play the final tomorrow against Andy Baetens.
In the first set, both men were still suffering from tension. With not too high a level, Landman won the set 3-1. After that Klaasen in particular got better in the match. He took three sets in a row by consistently finishing within six visits. Among other things with a 116 and 110 finish. Landman had no answer.
After Klaasen took the 3-1 lead, Landman came into the game better: much better. Suddenly he was on a double after five visits, or was out. And Klaasen didn't really seem able to break that pace, despite nearly 18 years of experience.
Landman came back to 2-3 via a 15 and 14-darter. In the sixth set, it was anyone's guess who was going to win. In the fifth leg of that set, Klaasen had chances to make it 2-4, but it ended up 3-3.
After it became 3-3, Landman was unstoppable. Klaasen threw too erratically: sometimes a 180/140, then a 43. Landman was always out in five visits. The constancy became too much for Klaasen.
In the eighth set, Klaasen seemed to bounce back with a 112 finish and 15-darter, but again it was too shaky. Landman kept grabbing a treble per turn and eventually rushed to victory with a 14-darter. A 100-finish did the trick.
