A 9-Darter from Dimitri van den Bergh sees him beat Michael van Gerwen for only the second time – 2025 Winmau World Masters Day 3

O’Connor Frozen Out

William O’Connor produced the shock of the first round, beating newly-crowned Dutch Masters champion Rob Cross. His opponent in the Last 16 was Danny Noppert, who comfortably dispatched Michael Smith in his opener on Thursday night.

Every set of this encounter went to a third leg, and it was ‘The Freeze’ who was the victor in each of those third legs to beat his Irish opponent 4-0 with a 96.27 average. Noppert will play Stephen Bunting tomorrow in the Quarter-Final.

The Heat puts out The Iceman

The second game of the afternoon was an absolute belter between Damon Heta and Gerwyn Price. It was the Aussie who started the better, taking the first set with checkouts of 124 and 89 before Price replied to tie the game at one apiece.

Price was looking to make a statement after his much-debated inclusion in the Premier League, however, the encounter was starting to get away from him. ‘The Heat’ took a commanding 3-1 lead after four sets, compounding Price’s trouble on the doubles.

‘The Iceman’ was living life on the edge during the fifth and sixth set. Damon Heta squandered multiple match winning opportunities in both sets to book his place in the Quarter-Final, he was punished by the former world champion, taking the game to a seventh and deciding set.

The drama continued into the final and deciding leg, both players missed darts to win before Damon Heta finally pinned the winning checkout on double two.

Reigning Champ Powers Through

The reigning Masters champion Stephen Bunting survived a real scare in Round One against Willie Borland, losing the first two sets to the Scotsman before sneaking over the line 3-2.

It was quite the opposite today with ‘The Bullet’ racing into a 2-0 lead himself, despite averaging lower than Peter Wright in the early stages.

Wright had recently been omitted from the Premier League lineup for the first time since 2013, and vowed that it was a relief to not be included and that he would use it as a fuel for a better 2025. His opener against Kevin Doets was very convincing but the high-flying Bunting train continued with the Englishman getting over the line after a poor final leg from Wright.

Whitewash Win

Luke Humphries has a big 2025 ahead of him defending over one million pounds in prize money. The World Number One was looking to be the main man in the sport once more after losing his World Championship title to Luke Littler last month.

His opponent, Josh Rock, endured a brilliant performance in his opener against Jermaine Wattimena but struggled to get his foot into his second game with Humphries a comfortable 4-0 victor. ‘Cool Hand’ will play Damon Heta on Sunday afternoon for a place in the Semi-Final.

The Ferret Finds A Way

Jonny Clayton and Ryan Searle kicked off the evening’s action with a thriller. Clayton kickstarting the session with a stunning 144 checkout before taking the next leg and winning the set.

That didn’t phase Searle who one upped the Welshman, winning both the legs in set two with ton plus finishes, 101 and 102. It was ‘Heavy Metal’ who took charge of this last 16 match up, storming into a 3-1 lead and one leg away from victory. He was allowed to the board needing 96 for the match, but missed a dart at double 19 to win and Clayton cleaned up to prolong the encounter.

In the blink of an eye, the World Number 7 was level at 3-3 in sets and 1-1 in legs with Searle having the advantage of throw in the last leg. However, once again, Ryan Searle struggled to get over the line on a big stage and the former champion Jonny Clayton was there to punish him.

Aspinall Gets It Done

It was a slog between Cameron Menzies and Nathan Aspinall with neither player playing anyone near their A-game.

An 83 average for Menzies was enough to win the opening set but not much else went the way of the Scotsman with Aspinall running out a 4-1 winner.

Aspinall described in his interview to ITV that it was “one of the hardest games he’s ever played.”

Lightning Quick From Littler

Despite his whirlwind last 12 months, this was still Luke Littler’s debut year at the Masters. He eased through against former WDF World Champion Andy Baetens in Round One and it was the former Masters champion James Wade who was waiting in the Last 16.

There was no remorse from Littler, taking eight straight legs to whitewash Wade. The reigning World Champion restricted ‘The Machine’ to a whopping zero darts at double. An incredible performance in just under 20 minutes.

History for van den Bergh

Michael van Gerwen has only lost 1 of his 20 games against Dimitri van den Bergh and that loss came nearly 7 years ago.

The black shirt wearing MvG started emphatically, hitting the champagne 132 checkout to kick off proceedings, before wrapping up the set on double 16.

It was ‘The Dream Maker’ who hit back though, taking the second and third set comfortably to open up a surprise lead over the 5x PDC Masters champion. The fourth set was the killer for Dimi though, the Belgian missing two darts to take a 3-1 lead.

The sixth set was the main talking point of the night, with Dimitri van den Bergh hitting a 9-dart leg on Double 18, his third on TV. This got DImi in the mood and he wrote his own bit of history, beating Michael Van Gerwen for only the second time ever, after MvG made a mess of the last leg.

A 9-Darter from Dimitri van den Bergh sees him beat Michael van Gerwen for only the second time - 2025 Winmau World Masters Day 3

2025 Winmau World Masters

Saturday February 1

Afternoon Session

4x Second Round

Danny Noppert 4-0 William O’Connor (2-1, 2-1, 2-1, 2-1)

Damon Heta 4-3 Gerwyn Price (2-0, 0-2, 2-1, 2-0, 1-2, 0-2, 2-1)

Stephen Bunting 4-2 Peter Wright (2-0, 2-1, 0-2, 2-1, 1-2, 2-1)

Luke Humphries 4-0 Josh Rock (2-1, 2-1, 2-0, 2-0)

Evening Session

4x Second Round

Jonny Clayton 4-3 Ryan Searle (2-0, 1-2, 0-2, 1-2, 2-1, 2-0, 2-1)

Nathan Aspinall 4-1 Cameron Menzies (1-2, 2-1, 2-0, 2-1, 2-0)

Luke Littler 4-0 James Wade (2-0, 2-0, 2-0, 2-0)

Michael van Gerwen 3-4 Dimitri Van den Bergh (2-0, 1-2, 1-2, 2-1, 2-1, 1-2, 0-2)

Sunday February 2

Afternoon Session 

Quarter-Finals

Luke Humphries v Damon Heta

Danny Noppert v Stephen Bunting

Luke Littler v Jonny Clayton

Van Gerwen/Van den Bergh v Nathan Aspinall

Evening Session 

Semi-Finals

Final