9:14 p.m
Not over yet
The Belgian reacts well and throws his fifth 180 and sets 148. Hempel is meanwhile on 264. van den Bergh sets 51 and has two match darts on D16 and one on D8. Hempel checks the 84 over T20, S12 and D6!
9:12 p.m
High finish from Hempel
Hempel is visibly dejected and van den Bergh marches on. Once again the Belgian tries to finish first, but he clearly misses the 127 over the bulls eye. But Hempel checks the 151 over the T20, T17 and Tops!
9:10 p.m
Van den Bergh probably too strong
The Belgian comes into the finish area first and has 60 remaining, while Hempel is at 192. Van den Bergh hits the S20 twice and checks the leg at the end over double 10 and takes a 2-0 lead.
9:07 p.m
Break for van den Bergh
Both play an average of around 90 here. Hempel starts the leg and reaches the finish area first, but van den Bergh comes around the corner with a 180 and faces 36 remaining. Hempel waits at 28, but van den Bergh checks the 36 with the second darts and gets the break
9:05 p.m
Hempel shortened
Both start weakly and don’t hit any triples, but Hempel is the first to reach the finish area and has 144 remaining. The first dart goes into the T20, but the second doesn’t fit and ends up with 4 remaining. Van den Bergh can do 106 not clear, but Hempel keeps his nerve and gets the set.
9:03 p.m
Hempel needs scoring power
The Dreammaker starts with a 180 and follows up with a 91. But Hempel also comes in well with a 140. Van den Bergh takes double 8 with 105 remaining. He deletes them with the second dart and now throws to potentially win the match.
9:01 p.m
Hempel with errors
The Belgian’s good phase is probably over. He hardly hits triples anymore, but things are going better for Hempel now. But with a 140, van den Bergh saves himself and faces 76 remaining and Hempel waits at 87. He hits the T20 and finally checks over the double 8 and reduces the score to 1:2.
20:58
Hempel increases to 2:0
The tide has turned a little and van den Bergh only hits one triple in three shots. Hempel plays down to 76 points and van den Bergh is at 249. The Cologne player misses a dart on tops and has 20 remaining. He checks them with the first dart.
20:56
Break for Hempel
The Belgian opens the third set with his next 140 and Hempel follows up with a 140. Van den Bergh plays his second 180 and Hempel plays a 100. The Belgian cannot confirm the 180 and only faces the 140, which he doesn’t check. Hempel wants to check the 121 over the bulls eye, but throws the first into the 13. Van den Bergh cannot clear the 64 and Hempel gets the break by checking the 72.
20:51
Van den Bergh marches
The Belgian’s scoring has increased enormously. He now has ten 140+ shots and Hempel only has three. His checkout rate of 30 is also okay and it looks like the 15th in the world will easily finish the game.
8:49 p.m
Hempel can’t keep up
Van den Bergh’s scoring is now significantly better than in the first set. With the first six darts he hits four triples. Hempel is currently not keeping up. But the 155 is too much for van den Bergh and he faces tops. He checks the 40 with the third dart over double 7.
8:47 p.m
The Belgian with the break
Van den Bergh starts with four perfect darts and after nine darts has 47 remaining, Hempel has 180. He plays the S15, but hits the S16 and has 16 remaining. He checks this to make it 2-1 and breaks Hempel.
8:45 p.m
Van den Bergh picks up speed
After nine darts the Belgian is on 121. He hits the bulls eye but misses the next darts and faces 57. He finally hits double 10 via S17 to make it 1-1.
8:43 p.m
First maximum
Hempel starts with only 40 points and van den Bergh answers with 100. The Cologne player also messes up the second shot and plays a 55. But van den Bergh also has problems and doesn’t hit a triple. Hempel then throws the first maximum of the game. The Belgian can’t keep up and only throws a 58. Hempel can’t confirm the 180 and doesn’t hit a triple, but still gets into the finish area first and has 120 remaining. He can delete the Shanghai finish and takes a 1-0 lead .
8:38 p.m
Deserved leadership
After a good start, Hempel slowed down a bit and has an average of only 82 points after the first set. The Belgian fought his way into the game and became increasingly better. The Cologne player has to get better at scoring if he wants to have a chance.
8:36 p.m
Van den Bergh is getting better
Van den Bergh starts badly without a triple, but Hempel can’t take advantage of it and doesn’t score one either. Both remain without a triple in the next recording. The Belgian then throws a 140 and Hempel doesn’t move. Van den Bergh and Hempel at 324. He hits the T20, the S17 and checks the leg over tops for a 1-0 lead
8:34 p.m
The compensation
Hempel lets up a little and sprinkles a little. The Dreammaker gets better and throws his fourth 140+ shot. Hempel can’t check 158 and the Belgian plays the S10 and S20 for D16 at 62, but throws over. He checks the remaining 16 with the second dart.
8:32 p.m
First leg for van den Bergh
Both hit a triple in the first two shots. Van den Bergh comes into the finish area first and faces 61 remaining. He hits the single bull but misses two darts on double 18. He then gets the leg with the first darts.
8:30 p.m
Hempel follows up
Van den Bergh gets into the leg well and plays it from the front after three shots. He is the first to enter the finish area and is at 125. Hempel is beaten and is at 184. Van den Bergh plays the single bull, triple-20 and narrowly misses tops. He doesn’t check it and has 10 remaining. Hempel can’t clear the 124, but van den Bergh throws himself over and the Cologne player takes the second leg.
20:27
Hempel with the break
Van den Bergh opened the match with a 140 and Hempel responded with 57 points. The Belgian adds 83 and Hempel comes with 139. Van den Bergh hits a triple and scores 99 points. Hempel continues strong with 140, while van den Bergh fails with 51 points. Hempel faces 32 remaining and van den Bergh cannot clear the 128. Hempel gets the break on double 4.
8:18 p.m
It’s about to start
John McDonald invites the players onto the stage. Van den Bergh runs in to “Happy” by Pharrell Williams and Hempel, as usual, to “Kölsche Jung”.
8:05 p.m
Dimitri “The Dreammaker” van den Bergh
Van den Bergh, seeded 15th, is taking part in the most important and biggest tournament of the year for the ninth time this year. His greatest World Cup success came at the last event. He made it to the semi-finals and lost 6-0 to Michael van Gerwen. Things didn’t go well for the Dreammaker at the major tournaments this year. At the UK Open and the World Cup of Darts the Belgian made it to the semi-finals and at the World Series of Darts Finals it was over after the quarter-finals. With an annual average of 93.73, he is only in 28th place.
7:55 p.m
Good start
As in his debut in 2022, Hempel will play against van den Bergh in the second round. At that time he surprisingly beat him 3:1. So the Belgian has been warned. Hempel made it into the second round last Sunday with a 3-1 win against Irishman Dylan Slevin. The former handball professional played an average of around 90 points, coupled with a checkout rate of 42 percent. As far as the average points are concerned, an increase is probably needed today. The Cologne native is currently in 65th place in the live ranking and is therefore on the verge of losing his tour card. Since Martijn Kleermaker gave up his card, 65th place was enough to keep it. If Hempel loses, he will have to hope that none of the six players placed behind him will pass him.
7:45 p.m
Welcome
Hello and welcome to the evening session of the 8th matchday of the Darts World Cup. Florian Hempel from Cologne and Dimitri van den Bergh from Belgium will meet at 8:15 p.m.