Van Gerwen wins second Euro Tour title of 2022 at Austrian Darts Open

On Sunday in Graz, Michael van Gerwen won his second European Tour championship of the year, defeating Danny Noppert 8-5 in the Interwetten Austrian Darts Open final.

Van Gerwen followed up his victory in the German Darts Championship in March by defeating fellow Dutchman Noppert in front of a sell-out crowd at the Premstättner Halle to take home the £25,000 first-place prize.

As the three-time World Champion starts his comeback in 2022, the world number three finished last year with just one ranking title, but already has four this year.

 

“I always want to win, I always put pressure on my shoulders so to win this title means a lot,” said Van Gerwen, who now has 34 European Tour titles to his name.

 “We all had to wait a long time to play this tournament again but this crowd made it worth the wait; they were phenomenal, not just for me but for everyone in the tournament.

 “It was really hard to perform on stage because of the heat which makes me even more proud of myself to get this win.”

Finals Day on Sunday brought the competition to a close, with the last 16 taking part in the afternoon session and the quarter-finals, semi-finals, and final taking place in the evening.

Van Gerwen avenged his Premier League loss to James Wade in the last 16 tie by winning the last-leg decider and advancing to the quarter-finals against Dirk van Duijvenbode.

Van Gerwen’s most remarkable performance of the weekend was a 6-1 triumph over his countryman, followed by a 7-5 semi-final victory over Stephen Bunting.

Noppert came back from 3-0 down in the final, hitting a 120 checkout along the way, to tie the match at 3-3, and the duo remained tied at 5-5 four legs later.

Van Gerwen struck a 14-dart break of throw to open up gap at 7-5, then followed up with another 14-darter to take victory in the 12th leg.

Noppert’s hunt for his first European Tour championship continues, as he reached his first final after reaching the semi-finals three times earlier.

On his way to the final, the UK Open winner defeated Premier League leader Jonny Clayton, Joe Cullen, and Nathan Aspinall.

Interwetten Austrian Darts Open

Schedule of Play

Sunday May 1

Afternoon Session

Third Round

Danny Noppert 6-2 Jonny Clayton

Joe Cullen 6-2 Krzysztof Ratajski

Ricky Evans 6-0 Danny Jansen

Nathan Aspinall 6-2 Madars Razma

Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-1 Zoran Lerchbacher

Michael van Gerwen 6-5 James Wade

Rob Cross 6-5 Gabriel Clemens

Stephen Bunting 6-4 Callan Rydz

 

Evening Session

Quarter-Finals

Danny Noppert 6-1 Joe Cullen

Nathan Aspinall 6-5 Ricky Evans

Michael van Gerwen 6-1 Dirk van Duijvenbode

Stephen Bunting 6-4 Rob Cross

 

Semi-Finals

Danny Noppert 7-2 Nathan Aspinall

Michael van Gerwen 7-5 Stephen Bunting

 

Final

Michael van Gerwen 8-5 Danny Noppert