Van Gerwen (Steve Welsh/PDC)

UK Open Qualifier 2: Michael van Gerwen wins his 100 career PDC singles titles while Robbie Green and Ian White hit nine-darters

Darts

Sat February 03, 2018 · 7y ago

Michael van Gerwen made it 100 career PDC singles titles as he continued his unbeaten start to 2018 with victory in Coral UK Open Qualifier Two at the Robin Park Tennis Centre in Wigan.

In a day which also saw nine-darters hit by Robbie Green and Ian White, Van Gerwen was once again the dominant force as he scooped the £10,000 top prize for the second day in succession.

Facing Darren Webster in the final, the Norwich-based slinger broke in the opening leg with an 81 checkout, only to see Van Gerwen immediately respond with a 136 checkout to break back.

Three holds of throw followed, before the world number one once again broke throw with an 86 checkout to take a 4-2 lead.

Webster managed to get one more leg on the board, but could do little to resist the Dutchman, who sealed victory with a brilliant 106 checkout.

The 28-year-old’s run to the final started with a 6-1 victory over Ross Twell, before beating World Youth Champion Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-3, Germany's Rene Berndt 6-1 and Ricky Evans 6-2.

His toughest tests were next as he edged out Richard North 6-4 in the quarter-finals, followed by victory over world number two Peter Wright by the same scoreline – clinched with a beautiful 160 checkout.

Van Gerwen has now won 19 successive games inside eight days to begin his 2018 campaign in incredible fashion, taking victory in last weekend's Unibet Masters, Thursday's Premier League opener with Rob Cross and Friday's Qualifier One.

Webster, hunting for his second ProTour title inside a year, saw off Adam Smith-Neale, Jan Dekker and Diogo Portela to reach the last 16.

He was then taken all the way to a last-leg decider with Alan Norris, before beating Justin Pipe 6-4 in the quarter-finals and nine-dart hero White in the semis.

White’s moment of perfection came in his 6-5 win over Daryl Gurney in the last 16, sealing the victory in the deciding leg with six darts into the treble-20 bed before a brilliant 141 finish.

He then went on to back-up earlier victories over Carl Hamilton, Terry Jenkins, Steve Beaton and Gurney by beating Poland’s Krzyzstof Ratajski to reach the final four.

Green’s crowning moment came earlier in the day as he beat Lee Harris 6-2 at the last 128 stage to claim his place in the PDC's Nine-Dart Club as he recorded the year's first perfect leg.

Wright will again be happy with his efforts as he reached the semi-finals for the second consecutive day.

The reigning Coral UK Open champion kicked things off with a 6-4 victory over Daniel Ayres, was made to work in a 6-5 win over Jermaine Wattimena before beating Jamie Lewis 6-4.

He then enjoyed a 6-3 win over Jamie Hughes - who had earlier knocked out World Champion Rob Cross - before seeing off Mervyn King 6-2.

The Coral UK Open Qualifiers continue on Sunday with Qualifier Three in the last of three days of action in Wigan, with live streaming throughout the event from two boards simultaneously for PDCTV-HD Subscribers at www.pdc.tv.

The Coral UK Open Qualifiers will then conclude next weekend with three further events from February 9-11 in Wigan, before the top 96 players from the UK Open Order of Merit qualify to compete in the Coral UK Open TV finals in Minehead, alongside 32 Rileys Amateur Qualifiers.