Final stop Aspinall: Ricardo Pietreczko’s dream of winning the Darts World Cup title has shattered. There was a clear 4-0 defeat against world number 12 Nathan Aspinall (England) in the round of 16, meaning the last of the six Germans was also eliminated.
Reaching the round of 16 is probably the greatest success of Pietreczko’s career. The Nuremberg resident has so far won his only title on the PDC Pro Tour in 2023 German Darts Championship fetched. Opponent Aspinall may now face a New Year’s clash against 17-year-old prodigy Luke Littler in the quarter-finals, provided the young Englishman can prevail against Ryan Joyce on Monday evening.
“Today wasn’t my day. I don’t know, it didn’t go well from the start”said Pietreczko at Sport1: “In the end it doesn’t matter: I was in the round of 16 of the World Cup, no one can take that away from me.”
“Pikachu” doesn’t find its way into the game
In atmospheric Ally Pally Pietreczko (30) couldn’t get going at all. He missed an initial chance to break and was rarely able to throw high numbers. Aspinall also had to find his way into the duel, but he then became stronger and kept his nerve in the crucial moments. In the last few games this had been Pietreczko’s strength.
Pietreczko laughs at himself
Aspinall had previously teased his opponent. In his opinion, Pietreczko was “a great darts player, but a strange character”. In general, he rarely seemed happy with his throws on stage – even if he kept smiling after poor shots and a quick 0-2 deficit – which was probably just an expression of self-irony.
Pietreczko also received a quick break in the third set, and shortly afterwards threw his first 180. But it didn’t help, this round also went to Aspinall. The Englishman then left no stone unturned and confidently threw Pietreczko out. Also in the lunch session, the Dutchman Kevin Doets was eliminated by Chris Dobey (3:4). Doets had previously eliminated, among others, the 2023 world champion Michael Smith.
Callan Rydz, who had already knocked Germany’s number one Martin Schindler out of the tournament, celebrated a strong comeback against Gabriel Clemens’ conqueror Robert Owen, turning a 0-2 into a 2-2 and forcing his opponent to a 4th over the full length :3.