Dimitri Van den Bergh, Josh Rock and Jonny Clayton were the first to qualify for the eighth final of the World Darts Championship in London on Tuesday. Van den Bergh won 4-1 against Krzysztof Ratajski, Rock was 4-3 too strong for two-time semi-finalist Nathan Aspinall, while Clayton beat Brendan Dolan 4-1.
It took Van den Bergh just over an hour in their first match after the Christmas break to win against Ratajski, who surprisingly reached the quarterfinals in 2021. The Belgian went comfortably up 2-0 in sets. In the second set, Van den Bergh bowled a very commendable average of 112 for three arrows.
After this, the level dropped slightly, allowing “The Polish Eagle” to 2-1. The Belgian then rallied and quickly made it 3-1 to 4-1. Van den Bergh could meet his compatriot Kim Huybrechts in the round of 16. He then has to win against Peter Wright on Tuesday night.
The second match of the day was much more exciting. In quite a show, Rock eventually defeated his two-time semifinalist Aspinall in seven sets. “Rocky” brutally took the lead, after which Aspinall put things in order and made it 2-1.
In a top-level match, the fifth set seemed decisive. Rock won after being tied at 2-2 in the legs to take a 3-2 lead in sets. But ‘The Asp’ fought back and won the sixth set: 3-3. The last set surprisingly went to Rock, who managed to qualify for the next round.
Clayton immediately set the tone in the third plate of the day against Dolan, winning the first two sets 3-2. In the third set, Dolan had the opportunity to redo something, but could not bring the tension back with a 1-3 set victory. Clayton tied it up to win his third straight set.
In the fourth set it was Dolan who pulled the longest drop. Entirely in the name of the match, this set was also determined over five legs. Hope again wary in the eyes of “The History Maker,” but the fifth set tied Clayton, again 3-2. He can prepare to meet Rock in the round of 16.
The only Dutchman to act on Tuesday is Raymond van Barneveld. The darts legend starts his match against former world champion Gerwyn Price at around 9.30pm.
Correction: An earlier version of this post claimed that Nathan Aspinall won against Josh Rock, but the opposite was true. We have corrected this inaccuracy.
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