Michael van Gerwen is on course, but there are still plenty of guns to hit him amidships | Darts

After a few less years, in which he dropped from first to third place in the world rankings, Van Gerwen set out again in 2022. Four major titles are the greatest proof of this. In the coming days he wants to restore order as he deems it right. He left behind Corona during the previous World Cup, an arrow change and an operation on his throwing hand. He is aiming for a double battle: a new world title immediately puts him back at the top of the Order of Merit, the PDC’s world ranking based on the prize money earned in the past two years.

After an expected easy victory in the second round against the Welshman Lewy Williams (with a personal set record of 125.25), it was a bit of a shock in round three when the Austrian Mensur Suljovic played the match of his life out of nowhere against Van Gerwen, who, however, turned out to be able to press his accelerator just a little further at exactly the right moments.

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Against Dirk van Duijvenbode that was less necessary in the fourth round, but the Dutch get-together could have become tense if ‘MVG’ had not shown optimal sharpness at crucial moments in that match.

The quarter-final on New Year’s Day seemed to be a new meeting with the Englishman Rob Cross, from whom Van Gerwen so painfully (after six missed match darts) lost the semi-final of the 2018 World Cup. But in the fourth round, Cross had to bow to his compatriot Chris Dobey, who therefore advanced to the quarter-finals for the first time.

A dangerous client, that Dobey. Van Gerwen experienced this this year at the European Championship, when he went down 5-6 in legs against ‘Hollywood’ at an early stage. The fact that the World Cup is played in sets (and best-of-nine in the quarterfinals), however, seems to be an advantage for the more experienced Van Gerwen, who ‘just’ won ten of all his twelve matches.

Athletes, including Van Gerwen, do not like to look over the next match. But we can do that with impunity. With an – expected – victory over Dobey, the only remaining of twelve Dutchmen who started the World Cup will face the winner of the match between the Belgian Dimitri van den Bergh and the Welshman Jonny Clayton in the semi-final on January 2.

Clayton is a cunning Vos who has already managed to beat Van Gerwen fifteen times. It was the other way around seventeen times. De Brabander will undoubtedly prefer to meet Van den Bergh, against whom he has a much better track record: 11 times a win, a draw and a defeat.

On the other side of the schedule, these four players must decide among themselves who can play in the final: Gerwyn Price, the 2021 world champion who currently still leads the world rankings, but whose position has been faltering for a while. He is a heavy favorite in the semi-final against Gabriel Clemens, the first German to reach the top eight at the World Darts Championship.

Or will Van Gerwen’s possible opponent in the final come from that other quarter-final, between two Englishmen. Michael Smith had a slow start to this tournament, but found his form (103.25 average) in the fourth round against Joe Cullen, which is needed to take a shot at his first world title. This year he finally won his first major tournament and with that Smith has broken down an important psychological barrier.

It seemed inconceivable beforehand that Smith could be stopped by compatriot Stephen Bunting. The teddy bear with a big favor factor is the biggest surprise in the last eight after Clemens. He impressed with his victories over the higher placed Dave Chisnall and Luke Humphries and should certainly be taken seriously by Smith.

Michael van Gerwen may be well on course for his fourth world title, so there are still plenty of guns in the fight that can hit him amidships with a perfectly aimed torpedo in an unguarded moment. In such a case, even the strongest battleship sinks.