The World Darts Championship has a top favorite after all
One-sided, but spectacular: Luke Humphries puts in an outstanding performance and wins the Grand Slam of Darts. From a German perspective, the result is sobering, but the prospects for the World Championship are not bad at all. The lessons of the darts weekend.
One-sided but spectacular: that's the best way to summarize the final of the Grand Slam of Darts. Luke Humphries put in an outstanding performance, winning the penultimate tournament before the World Championship spectacle at the Ally Pally. From a German perspective, the result is sobering, but the prospects for the World Championship are not bad at all. The lessons of the Arrows weekend.
Humphries dominates everyone: The final was a demonstration of power: Luke Humphries snatched his second Major victory just six weeks after his first major title (World Grand Prix). At the Grand Slam of Darts, one of the most important tournaments of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC), "Cool Hand Luke" is the measure of all things over the entire nine days of the tournament. Because Humphries was also able to rely on his current outstanding form in the final in Wolverhampton, he didn't give former world champion Rob Cross the slightest chance. The one-sided final between the two Englishmen went clearly to the world number four with 16:8.
Humphries had gone into the final as the favorite, having won twice against two-time world champion Gary Anderson during the tournament - the 16:14 in the quarter-finals was, in retrospect, the decisive match on the way to the Grand Slam title. In the semi-final, which was played on Sunday afternoon, Humphries was also able to get James Wade out of the way and then rest up. Cross won the second semi-final against Stephen Bunting and had about two hours less rest before the final after his victory.
A small advantage for Humphries, but no more than that. The 28-year-old Englishman's dominant win in the final against a strong Cross was so impressive that he has now become the top favorite to win the World Championship. Unlike in previous years, this time there is one player who is a little more likely to win the World Championship title than his rivals.
Top trio stumbles: The Grand Slam this year was characterized by the early demise of the favourites. In the preliminary round, Michael Smith and Peter Wright, the world's number one and two players, had to pull out of the tournament. For Smith, this continued a disappointing year as world champion. The "Bully Boy" had lifted the World Championship trophy on January 3, but apart from a semi-final in the Premier League and the World Grand Prix, he had not achieved any major successes since then.
The situation is even more dramatic for Wright. The Scot won the European Championship in Dortmund three weeks ago, but can otherwise look back on a disastrous year. Wright is not even qualified for the Players Championship Finals at the end of this week, the dress rehearsal for the World Championship starting on December 15.
And the number three in the world is also mostly absent in the decisive moments. Michael van Gerwen, the three-time world champion from the Netherlands, suffered a fiasco against Australian Damon Heta in the round of 16 after a flawless preliminary round. Nevertheless, the Players Championship Finals are now van Gerwen's favorite tournament; seven of the last ten editions have gone to the 34-year-old.
Pietreczko has crowd problems: Ricardo Pietreczko was the only German player to qualify for the Grand Slam and then had justified hopes of doing well. After all, the sensational title on the European Tour in Hildesheim and the strong European Championship debut in Dortmund were only a few weeks ago. But the Grand Slam turned into a disaster for the 29-year-old from Nuremberg. Flight canceled, only arrived shortly before the start of the tournament, then came within millimeters of victory in the first match against Heta. In the second match against the best female darts player in the world, Beau Greaves, "Pikachu" suffered a 1:5 defeat and clashed with the crowd several times.
The world number 42 was also thin-skinned in the last group match against Nathan Aspinall, which was of no sporting significance. Although Pietreczko won 5:4, he will be remembered for his body language: no interaction with the crowd, a hectic throwing rhythm and an angry mood. "The whole package of the journey, the delays, the games, the fans and the results was simply very annoying and also exhausting for me, which is why I behaved a little differently at one point or another than you know me to," Pietreczko wrote on his Instagram profile on Sunday.
"Amateur player" achieves something historic: Stowe Buntz is the big surprise of the tournament. The 44-year-old American played in the professional tournament for the first time ever and went straight through to the quarter-finals. No player from the United States had ever achieved this before. Above all, his first match as a mega outsider against Peter Wright was one of the biggest sensations of the darts year. Buntz dismantled the Scot 5:1 and raved afterwards: "Playing against one of my idols is like playing against Michael Jordan as a basketball fan."
In the second group match, Buntz followed up with a win against Stephen Bunting to win the group. In the round of 16, UK Open winner Andrew Gilding was also unable to get past Buntz, who will also be making his first appearance at the World Championships in December. It was not until the quarter-finals that he met Bunting again.
This is an outstanding result for a "hobby player", but the American is still not aiming for a professional career. "Darts is my hobby, I don't want to make it my profession. I work in a US Navy shipyard and in April I'll be celebrating my 25th anniversary in the service," said Buntz during the tournament, explaining that he intends to continue focusing on aircraft carriers and warships for the foreseeable future.
The World Cup is already very close: With only one tournament left until the start of the World Cup, it is worth taking a first (cautious) look at the World Cup starting field and scenarios for the draw next week. Only 5 of the 96 starting places are still open after Thibault Tricole became the first Frenchman in the history of the PDC World Championship to book a ticket for London at the weekend.
Germany is sending at least four players to London's iconic Alexandra Palace: Gabriel Clemens, who reached the semi-finals of last year's World Championship, leads the trio of German professional players. As things stand, the "German Giant" goes into the tournament as number 23 and could avoid the really big names in the first matches: If the world rankings remain as they are until after the Players Championship Finals, the out-of-form Dirk van Duijvenbode could be waiting in a possible third round of the World Championship.
Ricardo Pietreczko, who is competing at the World Championship for the first time ever, has to survive the first round in the "Ally Pally", just like Dragutin Horvat, winner of the PDC Europe Super League.
Martin Schindler is seeded for the second round for the first time and would start the tournament in 26th position as things stand at the moment. If "The Wall" wins his opening match, he could face Dutchman Danny Noppert. From a German perspective, a possible Clemens Schindler round of 16 would certainly be a dream scenario under these circumstances.
Michael van Gerwen, the three-time World Darts Champion, suffered an early exit at the Grand Slam of Darts, leaving a vacancy for the top spot. With Michael Smith and Peter Wright also falling early, the World Championships could see a new champion emerge, such as Michael van Gerwen's main rival, Michael van Gerwen.
Amidst these changes, the talk in darts circles is about who will challenge World Championship favorite Luke Humphries, having recently won the Grand Slam. Holding the World Darts Championship title, Humphries will face competition from past champions like Michael van Gerwen, who is looking to regain his form and reclaim the title he lost to Humphries last year.
Source: www.ntv.de
