This Week In Darts – 2nd of February 2024

LITTLER IS ON FIRE!

Teenage superstar Luke Littler claimed some bragging rights over reigning world champion Luke Humphries after a dramatic final-leg win in the quarter-finals of the Dutch Dart Masters.In a first meeting between the pair since January 3rd, Littler battled back from a 4-2 down to claim a 6-5 win and book his spot in the semi-finals at De Maaspoort in Den Bosch.

“Happy with the way I played,” Littler told ITV. “I went 2-0 up and think I fell asleep for the next four legs. Then I got back into it and I think that I played well with my finish and my scoring, so I’m happy.”

Littler took out D20 to hold throw in the opening leg with a 16-darter after Humphries missed two chances at double, then fired tops-tops for a 105 checkout to break an out-of-sorts world No. 1 in rather impressive fashion.

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS

Michael Van Gerwen denied teenage sensation Luke Littler a second consecutive World Series Title after claiming an 8-6 victory in a sensational Dutch Masters final. The closely fought contest ended with Van Gerwen taking the win thanks to a 12-darter in the final leg.

Previously, the Dutchman survived scares against Gian van Veen and Raymond van Barneveld before avenging last week’s Bahrain Darts Masters loss and taking the title on home soil.

“I put him under pressure, or tried to,” Littler told ITV, “he just wouldn’t miss.”

“I needed my best performance,” Van Gerwen admits. “We all know I had some really tough games in the last year and I underperformed a lot of times. You have to make sure you keep your fighting spirit.

PLAYER ACHIEVEMENTS

Deta Hedman was the big winner last weekend during the WDF tournaments in Romania.

The 64-year-old managed to win both the Romanian Classic and the Romanian Open.

During the Classic, Hedman conceded only five legs before winning 5-0 before winning over Lorraine Hyde with an average of 89.46. At the Open, she faced slightly more opposition, but only had to concede six legs en route to the final. Hedman than won 5-2 over Eve Watson in the final.

BEYOND THE OCHE

In the hopes of adding a new level of excitement to the sport, former Players Champion Finals winner Paul Nicholson has proposed the introduction of a ‘Royal Rumble’ format in darts.

“I think this idea of a darting Royal Rumble has been around for a while now, but nobody’s done it and it’s still something that the public want to see,” Nicholson said.

“This idea of starting two players on stage after drawing number one and number two and playing each other in whatever format is chosen. At the conclusion of that, someone else comes out at position 3, then you have another match before number 4 and so on, and so on.”

“The thing about this is, it’s about audience interaction and it’s about surprise because the person on the stage who remains there after winning doesn’t know who they’re going to play next and the audience doesn’t have a clue who’s coming,” Nicholson continues. “The ability of this format to give something else to the fans, that element of ‘we don’t know what’s coming up next.’ Everybody wants a bit of a surprise and this delivers it.”

In the WWE, the ‘Royal Rumble’ is an event that has taken place every year since 1988.

Whether or not this format could be successfully integrated into darts remains to be seen.

PLAYER ACHIEVEMENTS

The two singles tournaments at the WDF in Romania have produced a pair of Dutch winners in Jimmy van Schie and Alexander Merkx.

The final of the Romanian Classic had a pair of Dutch finalists. Van Schie and Merkx both managed to reach the final and after an exciting match the win went 5-4 to Van Schie – earning him his very first WDF title.

Merkx redeemed himself by reaching the final of the Romanian Open. In the final match of that tournament, the Dutchman was 5-3 too strong for Patrik Kovacs. For Merkx, it is his third WDF ranking title.