Danny Noppert has been eliminated by Peter Wright in the quarterfinals of the European Darts Grand Prix. The world champion played a great match with an average of 111.16. snakebite was therefore too strong for 6-1 The Freeze.
Noppert himself played anything but a bad game. The 31-year-old Frisian, who is in a strong phase of his career, threw an average of 104.06, but only hit one of his six chances for the doubles. He barely had room for such mistakes, as Wright missed only one of his seven chances on the doubles.
Strong on Saturday
Noppert already impressed on Saturday in his second round match in the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle in Stuttgart. He won 6-4 against vice world champion Michael Smith. Noppert broke the two-time World Cup finalist from England in the first game and did not relinquish that lead.
The average per three arrows was excellent for Noppert at 102.46. Smith’s 103.02 was even slightly higher, as was Bully Boy’s double percentage (50 at 46.15). Yet it was Noppert who struck at the right moments and therefore won.
In the eighth final, Noppert quickly faced a 1-3 deficit against Rafferty, but the Frisian managed to fight back to 3-4 in the short game. Then Noppert barely missed and took three legs in a row, good for a 6-4 victory. It was a high level duel: both darters threw an average of just above 104. Noppert also hit 60% of his doubles.
Van Gerwen ready early
Michael van Gerwen didn’t help at all in his second round match against Martin Lukeman: 1-6. The Englishman can be found on the Order of Merit – the global ranking for darts players – no less than 68 places lower than the Brabant number 3 in the world, but there was little noticeable in the match.
Van Gerwen’s average of 89.77 over three arrows contrasted sharply with the 96.16 of 37-year-old Lukeman. The Dutchman missed no less than 13 of his 14 doubles and will therefore absolutely not be pleased with his finish percentage of 7.14. Lukeman did that a lot better with 6 out of 16 (finish percentage 37.5).
Results eighth finals
• Martin Lukeman – Martin Schindler 5-6
• Damon Heta – Ryan Searle 6-5
• Rowby-John Rodriguez – Daryl Gurney 6-3
• Rob Cross – Krzysztof Ratajski 6-4
• Andrew Gilding – Brendan Dolan 3-6
• Joe Murnan – Luke Humphries 3-6
• Peter Wright – Jonny Clayton 6-1
• Danny Noppert – Nathan Raffery 6-4
Results quarterfinals
• Martin Schindler – Damon Heta 5-6
• Rowby John Rodriguez – Rob Cross 4-6
• Brendan Dolan – Luke Humphries 0-6
• Peter Wright – Danny Noppert 6-1
Semifinals (From 9 p.m.)
• Damon Heta – Rob Cross
• Luke Humphries – Peter Wright
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