Noppert defeated his compatriot Michael van Gerwen 10-6 in a strong performance on Thursday evening and capitalized on that ‘stunt’ by not being surprised by ‘underdog’ Wenig in the quarter-finals. Noppert will play the semi-finals on Sunday afternoon against world champion Luke Littler.
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Things went evenly in the first session, but partly due to two breaks, Noppert went into the first break with a 3-2 lead. He then expanded this to 6-4, partly due to a nice 140 finish.
In the third block, Noppert really showed who was boss, he won five legs in a row and reached a comfortable 11-4 score. That was apparently a bit too much for Wenig, because he immediately came back after the interruption with a beautiful 170 finish, the ‘big fish’.
It did not deter Noppert from his game, the man from Joure smoothly ran out to a 15-5 lead, but after the subsequent break Wenig suddenly won three legs in a row. With a 25-finish, he ended the match in the 24th leg: 16-8.
“I am very happy, that is also possible if you are in the semi-final of the Grand Slam of Darts,” laughed Noppert. Viaplay. “I played better in the previous matches, but today it was reasonable. And I can be satisfied with that.”
Danny Noppert now against Luke Littler
Noppert will play Littler in his semi-final on Sunday afternoon. The defending champions defeated Northern Ireland’s Josh Rock 16-12. The other semi-final is between Luke Humphries and Gerwyn Price.