Michael van Gerwen and Cor Dekker produced gorgeous nine-darters on a record-breaking day on the Hungarian Darts Trophy, as Gabriel Clemens defeated Luke Humphries on Day Two in Budapest.
Van Gerwen and Dekker made historical past with their heroics in Saturday’s second spherical on the MVM Dome, on a day which featured a number of nine-darters for the primary time in European Tour historical past.
Dutch supremo Van Gerwen achieved the feat within the opening leg of his 6-2 victory towards Martin Lukeman, earlier than conjuring up 157 and 154 checkouts to triumph with a 104.52 common.
Van Gerwen will renew his rivalry with Clemens within the final 16, after the German No 2 continued his resurgence with an exciting last-leg victory towards world No 1 Humphries.
“I’m here to do something special. I think this crowd deserved it,” claimed Van Gerwen, recent from successful his first rating title of 2024 at Gamers Championship 21 on Wednesday.
“I actually under-performed right here final 12 months, however a very powerful factor was to win this sport with a strong efficiency.
“I think there’s still a lot more in the tank because I feel good, I feel sharp, and there’s a lot more to fight for tomorrow (Sunday).”
Clemens defied a 101 common and 5 maximums to prevail in a high-quality affair towards Humphries within the Hungarian capital, sealing his progress with a 14-dart break of throw within the decider.
The 41-year-old averaged 107 to defeat Van Gerwen on the Flanders Darts Trophy a fortnight in the past, and is hoping to repeat the feat when he takes on the three-time world champion on Sunday afternoon.
“I’ve been playing really good darts in the last few weeks,” mirrored Clemens, who remains to be battling to safe qualification for subsequent month’s World Grand Prix.
“I know I can beat the top players, and at the moment, Luke is the best player in the world, so this fills me with confidence.”
Elsewhere, Dekker landed the day’s first nine-darter throughout his second-round conflict towards Stephen Bunting, delivering the second of magic within the penultimate leg of his 6-2 defeat.
The Norwegian celebrated his maiden European Tour victory on Friday, earlier than etching his identify into the historical past books towards Bunting, who ran out a convincing winner regardless of Dekker’s brilliance.
Reigning champion Dave Chisnall started his bid for back-to-back European Tour titles with a crushing 6-1 victory over Jonny Clayton, reeling off six consecutive legs to triumph with a 100.94 common.
Wessel Nijman captured 4 consecutive legs from 5-2 down to grab victory over Gerwyn Worth, following up a 13-darter with 141, 107 and 71 finishes to inflict one other early European Tour exit on the Welshman.
Peter Wright maintained his high-quality type with a whitewash win over Damon Heta, capitalising on a below-par show from the Australian No 1 to canter by way of to spherical three in quickfire style.
Birthday boy Rob Cross rounded off Saturday’s second-round motion with a 6-1 demolition of Andrew Gilding, crashing in 4 180s to arrange a third-round showdown towards sixth seed Josh Rock.
2024 Hungarian Darts Trophy, second spherical afternoon session
Ricardo Pietreczko 6-5 Niels Zonneveld
Gian van Veen 6-4 Keane Barry
Ryan Searle 6-1 Alberto Bezjian
Daryl Gurney 6-5 Florian Hempel
Stephen Bunting 6-2 Cor Dekker
Scott Williams 6-4 Chris Dobey
Martin Schindler 6-5 Jim Williams
Josh Rock 6-5 James Wade
Night Session
Danny Noppert 6-4 Nathan Aspinall
Peter Wright 6-0 Damon Heta
Dave Chisnall 6-1 Jonny Clayton
Wessel Nijman 6-5 Gerwyn Worth
Ross Smith 6-2 Raymond van Barneveld
Gabriel Clemens 6-5 Luke Humphries
Michael van Gerwen 6-2 Martin Lukeman
Rob Cross 6-1 Andrew Gilding
What’s subsequent on Sky Sports activities?
The 2024 BoyleSports World Grand Prix is subsequent on the Sky Sports activities darting calendar.
The annual £600,000 match will happen on the Mattioli Area in Leicester from October 7-13, as 32 of the world’s prime stars compete for the coveted title which was received by Luke Humphries.
Humphries celebrated his maiden TV rating title with victory over Gerwyn Worth in final 12 months’s match, and the world No 1 will return to defend his title later this 12 months.
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Luke Littler hit a pair of sensational back-to-back checkouts of 140 and 130 to take the lead on his option to claiming his maiden World Collection of Darts Finals title in Amsterdam
Six-time champion Michael van Gerwen can be set to star, with teenage famous person Luke Littler poised to make his double-start debut within the East Midlands.
In a change to final 12 months’s format, Saturday’s semi-finals on October 12 might be contested over the most effective of 9 units, with the ultimate set to be performed over the most effective of 11 units on Sunday, October 13.
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