Debutant Lukas Wenig surprisingly reached the round of 16 at the Grand Slam of Darts and thus also reached a small milestone from a German perspective. The 31-year-old from Marburg, number 71 in the PDC rankings before the tournament, won his decisive final group game against Englishman Cam Crabtree 5-1. For the first time ever, three Germans are in the round of 16 of the same major tournament.
For Wenig, reaching the knockout phase represents the greatest success of his career to date. He had previously achieved a good starting position with a victory over top player Jonny Clayton (Wales/5:3). Wenig secured 12,500 pounds in prize money by advancing and gained self-confidence for his World Cup debut in London (December 11th to January 3rd). Little followed the German number one Martin Schindler and shooting star Niko Springer, both of whom had already purchased their round of 16 tickets.
While Schindler (29) made the round of 16 perfect with a victory over Alexis Toylo from the Philippines on Monday evening, Springer (25) advanced early after two unexpected victories against former world champions Gary Anderson and Michael van Gerwen. He lost his final game against the already eliminated Englishwoman Beau Greaves 3:5.