Van Gerwen fails at Grand Slam of Darts at group stage, just short of Littler’s nine-darter

The Grand Slam of Darts will soon be over for Michael van Gerwen. The group stage is the final destination for the three-time world champion after losing to Great Britain Ryan Joyce (5-4).

It was make or break for Van Gerwen on Tuesday night. The Dutch started the tournament with a 5-0 win over Noa-Lynn van Leuven, but lost his second group match against Gary Anderson. Joyce managed to achieve the same results so the winner of this match went through a round.

The three-time world champion started badly. He had to face an immediate 0-2 deficit. Van Gerwen fought back, but then immediately removed his own leg. Joyce took advantage of the break and took a 4-2 lead.

The Englishman then only needed one more leg to send Van Gerwen home, but again the darts player Vlijmen fought back: 4-4.

The move seemed to belong to Van Gerwen, but he couldn’t live up to his preferred standard. In his own leg Joyce got two game arrows and the first arrow was very successful.

Luke Littler, aged 17, qualified for the eighth final. The World Cup final was close to nine darters in the last leg of the match against Lawrence Ilagan, but things went wrong on the last dart, on double 12.

Two turns later, the Englishman managed to decide the game through a double triple.

Jermaine Wattimena and Gian van Veen had already advanced to the next round and finished the group stage as winners. Wattimena won his last match in the group stage against Austria’s Mensur Suljovic. The score was 5-4.

Van Veen defeated compatriot Wessel Nijman 5-4, who had already been eliminated for a place in the eighth final. But Nijman was working on a strong game. With an average of 111, the defeat in a game of high quality darts was extremely bitter.

Furthermore, with a finish of 170 he could have left the tournament with a win, but he still went wrong, just like in the matches against Josh Rock and Stephen Bunting.

Another Dutchman, Danny Noppert, qualified for the next round of the Grand Slam of Darts on Monday night. The eighth final is on Wednesday night.