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Double Delight For De Decker At The World Grand Prix

Double Delight For De Decker At The World Grand Prix

Alex Moss |

A WEEK IN DARTS – OCTOBER 14, 2024 – DE DECKER STUNS HUMPHRIES TO WIN THE WORLD GRAND PRIX

There was a thrilling conclusion to the World Grand Prix as a first-time major finalist dethroned the world number one to win the double-start title in Leicester. Here’s our recap of all the darts action from the last seven days...

@dartscorner.co.uk

🎯🏆 𝐃𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐃𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫 𝐀𝐭 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐱 - The Weekly Dartscast co-host Alex brings you Darts Corner's recap of all the darts action from the last seven days including the World Grand Prix, Development Tour and the World Masters! #WeGetDarts #darts #dartscommunity #dartsfamily #dartsaddict #standupifyoulovethedarts #pdc #lovethedarts #dartsnews #sportsnews #sports #dartsrecap #worldgrandprixdarts #developmenttourdarts #worldmastersdarts

♬ original sound Darts Corner

DE DECKER CLAIMS FIRST MAJOR TITLE

Mike De Decker is the newest major winner after beating Luke Humphries 6-4 to win the World Grand Prix in Leicester on Sunday night.

The Belgian, who had never been past the last 32 of a major event before last week and was a 100/1 pre-tournament outsider, defied the odds to claim the £120,000 top prize at the Mattioli Arena.

‘The Real Deal’ raced into a 4-1 lead in sets against the world number one Humphries, before the defending champion battled back to level at 4-4.

But De Decker held his nerve by winning the next two sets to dethrone Humphries and become just the second Belgian to win a PDC major title.

“I’m so proud,” De Decker said. “I’m over the moon. I’ve been really happy with my performances all week, but this tops it off.

“The way Luke has been playing since last year is just brilliant and being the person that beats him this weekend, in a final, picking up this trophy; I’m so happy!

“I was cool in patches. In the beginning I was really nervous, then I calmed down and went 4-1 up. When he came back to 4-4 I started to get nervous again, but I did it.”

De Decker’s run to the title saw him survive two match darts in the first round against Damon Heta, before recording impressive whitewash wins over both Gary Anderson and James Wade.

An all-Belgian semi-final against Dimitri Van den Bergh saw the less experienced De Decker come through a 5-2 winner, to set up a showdown with the top seed Humphries in the final.

Humphries had also survived an opening-round scare, having lost the first five legs against Stephen Bunting, who missed a match dart for a whitewash 2-0 win, before coming back to win.

‘Cool Hand’ went on to beat Ricardo Pietreczko and Jonny Clayton (both 3-1) and looked in imperious form when he averaged 100 in a 5-0 whitewash over Ryan Joyce in the semi-finals.

PLAISIER AND GREAVES DEFEND WORLD MASTERS TITLES

Wesley Plaisier and Beau Greaves retained their men’s and women’s titles at the WDF World Masters as the longest-running darts major made its return in Budapest last week.

The duo had both tasted success in the last edition of the World Masters, held in Assen in late 2022, and came through a bumper field of entries to claim back-to-back titles.

Plaisier overcame several scares during his title defence, winning three straight last-leg deciders against Gyorgy Jehirszki, Barry Copeland and Jimmy van Schie, and surviving multiple match darts to continue his title defence.

The Dutchman was too strong in the final though, averaging 96 in a comfortable 7-3 win over Germany’s Kai Gotthardt, who himself had survived match darts in his semi-final win over Connor Scutt.

It was more plain sailing for Greaves in the ladies’ event, with the 20-year-old dropping just one leg in nine matches on her way to regaining the World Masters crown.

The reigning two-time WDF women’s world champion whitewashed Rhian O’Sullivan 6-0 in the final to become a two-time women’s World Master.

NIJMAN SEALS TOP SPOT ON DEVELOPMENT TOUR

Wessel Nijman signed off from the PDC Development Tour in style with two more titles to clinch top spot on the Order of Merit.

The Dutchman, who also recently won his maiden title in the senior ranks with a Players Championship victory, won Events 21 and 22 in Wigan on Saturday to confirm his place at the top of the rankings.

It was Nijman’s sixth and seventh Development Tour titles of the season. He has now earned a debut in the Grand Slam of Darts next month.

On Sunday, two new names were added to the Development Tour roll of honour as Tavis Dudeney and Henry Coates both won their first PDC titles.

Dudeney whitewashed Jurjen van der Velde 5-0 in the Event 23 final, whilst Coates got the better of Owen Roelofs 5-3 in the decider of Event 24.

Meanwhile, the two spots in the PDC World Darts Championship went to Niko Springer and Keane Barry, who finished second and third on the final Order of Merit.

Germany’s Springer has also earned a two-year PDC tour card alongside Sebastian Bialecki, the Polish ace who reached the UK Open quarter-finals back in 2022.

Pictures: PDC

Alex Moss is a content creator for Darts Corner and the co-host of the Weekly Dartscast podcast. Alex co-founded the Weekly Dartscast in 2017 and has helped produce 350+ episodes of the podcast, with their list of previous guests on the show a who’s who in the world of darts.

Alex also writes content for the Darts Corner blog, including the weekly darts news round-ups and how-to guides.

 

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