"I'm very proud" - Andy Baetens makes history by becoming first Belgian to reach World Championship final

For the first time in his career, Andy Baetens is into the final of the WDF World Championship at Lakeside. The Belgian overcame the challenge of Dennis Nilsson, to emerge a 5-2 winner in the semi-finals on Saturday.

"I'm very proud. My performance today was very good so I'm proud," Baetens reacted in his post-match interview. "Dennis was good today also. So I'm very happy to still be here and to be playing in the final tomorrow."

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Averaging around the same level as he has been all tournament with 94.13, Baetens' consistent mid nineties averages are the reason why he was pre-tournament favourite. That's not to say he had it all his own way against Nilsson however. "The first set, I missed a couple of doubles and Dennis took advantage. The second set I took, third set again missed doubles were costly. After that I told myself I needed to slow down and my 180s came good so I'm happy."

As touched upon there, Nilsson is a slightly more methodical player. This left Baetens struggling to find his own rhythm. "Yeah he's a bit slower than me," the Belgian admits. "But, I kept my nerves and I won the game."

Facing one of the quickest players around in Chris Landman in the final, there'll be no such difficulties. "The important thing for me is, this is my third time here at Lakeside, after two quarter-finals, I'm in the final and I will go all the way now," Baetens previews. "The whole of the year I've played well, so I'm very proud of myself to be here now."

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