The best minutes of darts life are not enough
Florian Hempel experiences the best minutes of his darts life so far within a week, but the German darts pro can only benefit from it once. In round three of the World Championship against Stephen Bunting. He now declares himself the "massive underdog".
Darts players want to get into the tunnel. The state of infallibility drives the pros. Florian Hempel, the "Kölsche Jung", experiences the tunnel frenzy twice at this World Darts Championship in London's Alexandra Palace. Nevertheless, the 33-year-old has no chance in his third round match against Stephen Bunting this afternoon.
But first things first. Two days before Christmas Eve, the 33-year-old played himself into an unbelievable frenzy. Hempel was seemingly hopelessly behind against last year's semi-finalist Dimitri Van den Bergh, but overcame match darts from his Belgian opponent and, after one of the greatest comebacks in World Championship history, still progressed to the next round. Hempel was now up against England's Stephen Bunting for a sensational place in the last 16. But that was to remain a dream.
Unlucky top start for Hempel
Hempel had started as strongly in the first set as he had finished against Van den Bergh six days earlier. After the first round, he already had three 180 high scores in the statistics, plus a 100 percent rate on the doubles and a 164 checkout, the third-highest in darts. It was just a shame that despite the strong statistics, Hempel only managed to win two legs.
Bunting simply played even better than the strong German. An average of 115 points for "The Bullet" and 107 for Hempel. The first set was the best the World Darts Championship has seen so far this year. Bunting had started the match with two 11-darters in succession, then Hempel checked 164 points, unleashed his emotions and equalized in the next leg to make it 2:2. But in the decider, Hempel didn't find the triples as often and Bunting took advantage to win the set.
It should have been the decisive moment in the match. Hempel maintained his flawless double rate until the end of the second set, but hit fewer triples. Unsurprisingly, Bunting was also unable to maintain his monstrous level, but he remained better than Hempel until the end of the match. In the end, the scoreboard showed an unsatisfactory 0:4 in the sets from Hempel's point of view. "Losing 0:4 is tough," said Hempel in his mandatory interview on Sport1. However, he also emphasized that, unlike recently, he had not overslept in the opening phase. He wanted to improve that and he had managed to do so, he said.
Hempel declined further interview requests after the clear but not surprising loss to top player Bunting. Just like Gabriel Clemens the day before, Hempel obviously just wanted to get out of the darts stronghold "Ally Pally". Martin Schindler, who had been eliminated in the most bitter manner in the comparison of the Germans on Wednesday, on the other hand, still answered numerous questions from the media.
"Luckily today was my day"
So it was up to winner Bunting to say a few words about the match and the spectacular start at the press conference. "Florian played really well. He presented me with a real challenge. But I'm really happy to come out of the match as the winner in the end," said Bunting and also revealed in response to a question from ntv.de that he was "very happy" about Hempel's victory in the previous round. "We need people like Florian in our sport. He's a very good player. Fortunately, today was my day."
Bunting will need a similarly good day in the round of 16 against Michael van Gerwen tomorrow Friday evening. He sees himself as a "big underdog", said "The Bullet" after his success over Hempel. Despite several questions, Bunting repeatedly underlined his supposed underdog role against the three-time world champion. Asked about it one last time by ntv.de, the "big underdog" even became a "massive underdog" - but the 38-year-old didn't really believe his own words.
Especially as half a minute earlier he had attested to his own increased self-confidence and greater maturity compared to previous years. "I've been here long enough now to realize that I'm one of the best players in the world at the moment. I'm trying to be the best version of myself at the moment."
The best Bunting of all time could even be a stumbling block for Michael van Gerwen. "Bring me Bunting," the Dutchman had said the night before after reaching the last 16. His wish was granted.
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Despite his strong performance, Florian Hempel falls short against Stephen Bunting in the World Darts Championships third round, marking the end of his sensational run. Hempel's defeat opens the door for Bunting to advance to the round of 16.
Florian Hempel's remarkable run in the World Darts Championships comes to an end as he loses to Stephen Bunting in the third round, failing to secure a spot in the last 16.
Source: www.ntv.de
