Sporting Life
Peter Wright (Picture: Mikal Schlosser/PDC)
Peter Wright (Picture: Mikal Schlosser/PDC)

Darts results: Peter Wright beats MVG, Michael Smith and Gerwyn Price to win Nordic Darts Masters

By Sporting Life
10:34 · MON January 23, 2023

Peter Wright got the better of three fellow world champions to capture the Nordic Darts Masters title.

After edging out Michael van Gerwen in a deciding leg, just as he had Dennis Nilsson on Friday, Wright ended Michael Smith's winning run to reach the final which he dominated from the start against Gerwyn Price.

Wright got better the further he went in the competition and won the final 11-5, averaging 102 and producing a similarly clinical display to that which finally stopped Smith in his tracks, the newly-minted world number one unable to live with his opponent.

"It's lovely when darts go like that," said Wright. "I just felt unbeatable, doesn't matter who was in front of me, I was just on one!

"We know Gezzy's a fantastic player, he beat me the last four times I played him, so I got one back.

"To beat the best players in the world, to play and be invited, I'm grateful. It's an amazing crowd that makes a difference."

Price, who lost the final in Bahrain last week, said: "He took out a 104 when I was sat on a finish, a 149... I wasn't in this final, I think I won five legs, probably should've won one.

"Peter was playing fantastic and all credit to him, he was great in the final."

Wright made a blistering start to the final, hitting those 104 and 149 outshots to race into a 2-0 lead and then taking out 75 to make it 3-0, and it was 5-0 after a 140 finish soon after.

Price could only share the next two legs as he tried to gain a foothold in the match but Wright took the next two to pull seven clear, Price then hitting a 140 finish of his own to ensure he had something positive to look back upon.

After winning the following leg, Price went better still with a 156 finish to briefly raise hopes of a fightback, but they were quickly extinguished as Wright put together 13 and 14-dart legs to seal the deal.

Earlier in Saturday’s semi-finals, which opened the evening session at the Forum Copenhagen, Wright had ended Smith’s 12-match unbeaten run with an 11-8 success.

‘Snakebite’ saw Smith – chasing a third successive TV title after victory in Bahrain – fight back from 5-1 down to level, but the Scottish two-time world champion recovered to close out victory, landing 50 per cent of his attempts at a double.

Price, meanwhile, pulled off a dramatic 11-10 win over his Wales World Cup partner Jonny Clayton with a 101 average and hitting 11 maximums.

On Friday, all eight of the PDC contenders had made it through against regional players in the first round of the World Series event in Denmark.

In the quarter-finals on Saturday afternoon, Wright edged out World Championship runner-up van Gerwen on a final-leg decider while defending champion Dimitri Van Den Bergh was beaten 10-7 by Price.

Clayton dispatched third seed Rob Cross 10-4 and Smith held off a fightback from Luke Humphries to progress with a 10-7 victory during which he landed eight maximums.

Nordic Darts Masters: Tournament schedule & results

Friday January 20
First Round (Best of 11 legs)
Evening Session (1900 local time)
TV Coverage: ITV 4

  • Luke Humphries 6-1 Marko Kantele
  • Jonny Clayton 6-3 Daniel Larsson
  • Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-2 Madars Razma
  • Gerwyn Price 6-0 Benjamin Drue Reus
  • Peter Wright 6-5 Dennis Nilsson
  • Michael Smith 6-0 Darius Labanauskas
  • Rob Cross 6-1 Vladimir Andersen
  • Michael van Gerwen 6-3 Andreas Harrysson

Saturday January 21
Evening Session (1900 local time)
TV Coverage: ITV 4

Quarter-finals (Best of 19 legs)

  • (1) Michael Smith 10-7 Luke Humphries
  • (4) Peter Wright 10-9 Michael van Gerwen
  • (2) Gerwyn Price 10-7 Dimitri Van den Bergh
  • (3) Rob Cross 4-10 Jonny Clayton

Semi-finals (Best of 21 legs)

  • (2) Gerwyn Price 11-10 Jonny Clayton
  • (1) Michael Smith 8-11 (4) Peter Wright

Final (Best of 21 legs)

  • (4) Peter Wright 11-5 (2) Gerwyn Price

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