A home soil win for local hero, but Gezzy is hungry as the business end of the year kicks off.
Nine-dart star Michael van Gerwen celebrated a record-extending fifth title in Jack’s World Series of Darts Finals. He defeated Nathan Aspinall 11-4 to prevail on a memorable homecoming night in Amsterdam.
It was a tournament which saw our Welsh PDC boys Gezzy and Jonny both make premature departures. Gezzy was stunned by Keegan Brown fighting for a place in the quarters, after an absolutely breathtaking performance from 2-0 down with an incredible 164 to win it!!
After a big win for Jonny Clayton, the 2021 champion in the first round, dispatched Martin Schindler 6-3 to top seed Rob Cross who was the first player through to the quarter-finals in Amsterdam, closing out a convincing 6-3 against the Ferret.
Gezzy posted, on his now infamous post-match Instagram Stories, that he’s hungrier than ever for the next three ranked tournaments as we get closer to the Worlds. Can he bring the title back home to Wales again?
If anyone is going to stop Gerwyn Price, it’s probably going to be Michael van Gerwen. The man who delivered the moment of the weekend as he raised the roof at AFAS Live with a sensational nine-darter in the semi-finals against Luke Humphries, and he capped off a terrific day of action by claiming the £75,000 top prize with a victory against Aspinall.
It was quite a statement performance which sure sent out a message to the rest of the field. The three-time World Champion was in imperious form throughout the third day of action in Amsterdam and secured his fourth televised crowd of 2023 to maintain his remarkable record at this event.
Previously the tournament’s champion in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2019, Van Gerwen delighted his home crowd with the triumph, having also celebrated his quarter-final win over Dimitri Van den Bergh on Sunday afternoon on stage with children Zoe and Michael.
“The most important thing for me is to win another title on stage,” insisted Van Gerwen, who won World Series events in New York and Poland earlier this year to seal his spot in the season-ending finals.
“You always want to perform well, and to do it in front of your home crowd, it gives you such a good feeling.
“I think the biggest challenge for me was the pressure of playing in front of the home crowd, but they have been absolutely fantastic this weekend. Even Luke Humphries after our semi-final said that the crowd were phenomenal, and you can only be proud of that.”