Michael van Gerwen easily reached the quarter-finals of the Darts World Cup in London on Friday evening. He won very convincingly 4-0 in sets against eighteenth seed Stephen Bunting. The Vlijmen darts player also managed to impress in his previous two matches at the World Cup.
Beforehand, Michael van Gerwen had said that it would not matter to him who his opponent was in the eighth finals. But Stephen Bunting threw high averages in his previous matches at the World Cup. The Brit, nicknamed TheBullet was clearly in good form and also had the English crowd fully behind him.
In shape
Only little was left of Bunting’s form on Friday evening. Van Gerwen rolled over his opponent, as he did twice before this World Cup. The Brit did not come close to the averages of his previous games. Van Gerwen did, with an average of 100.08 and 103.07 in the first two sets.
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Bunting certainly offered some resistance and neatly kept his own legs in the first set, but Van Gerwen did the same and managed to take the set. In the second set Van Gerwen broke his opponent, but he immediately managed to break back.
Big lead
A decisive fifth put The second set actually brought the premature decision to the match. Although Bunting the fifth put was allowed to start, Van Gerwen managed to break him with a 180’er and a 140’er. The Brabander thus managed to take a 2-0 lead in sets.
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In the third set Bunting immediately got a turn on his ears. Van Gerwen just kept his own put and then broke the Brit with a 12-darter. For a moment the crowd’s favorite revived by breaking back with a 125 finish, but then the fun really ended. Van Gerwen immediately grabbed Bunting put and the score was 3-0 in sets for Van Gerwen.
Decision
He immediately made it clear that it was over for Stephen Bunting. The Brabander missed three arrows to break Bunting, but then Van Gerwen took three legs in a row, making the match 4-0. He only had one matchdart needed to finish it.
Van Gerwen still has a chance to win his fourth world darts title. He already won the World Cup in 2014, 2017 and 2019, but has now been dry for five years. On January 1, Van Gerwen will play against Scott Williams or Damon Heta in the quarter-finals.
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THIS IS HOW MICHAEL VAN GERWEN WON HIS PREVIOUS MATCH:
Michael van Gerwen impresses at the World Darts Championship: ‘Must crush opponents’