Florian Hempel was the first German player to win his opening match at this year’s Darts World Cup in London.
Hempel won 3-1 against Irishman Dylan Slevin on Sunday evening (December 17th, 2023). Hempel will face Belgian Dimitri van den Bergh in the second round. Hempel surprisingly defeated him at the 2022 World Cup.
Difficult start against Slevin
The 33-year-old Hempel had a difficult time, especially at the beginning of the game – the first set went to Slevin. The man from Cologne kept missing darts on double fields. A hit on double 18 ultimately ensured the hard-fought victory from a German perspective.
In order to still have a chance of defending his own Tour Card, Hempel had to win the game. Even the victory over Slevin might not be enough to slip into the top 64 in the ranking. Then we would need an additional win against van den Bergh in round two.
Victory against van den Bergh – otherwise the Q-School threatens
If Hempel doesn’t make it into the top 64, he has to prove himself in the so-called Q-School in January and get the Tour Card back. Hempel was the first German representative to board the Ally Pally at the World Cup.
On Tuesday evening (December 19, 2023), Dragutin Horvat (against Belgium’s Mike de Decker) and Ricardo Pietreczko (in a duel with the Japanese Mikuru Suzuki) will compete in their first round games. The two seeded professionals Gabriel Clemens and Martin Schindler will take part in the action on Thursday and Friday.
Sherrock struggles with himself
Darts player Fallon Sherrock has been eliminated from the World Championships in London and will therefore not get a duel with Martin Schindler. The “Queen of the Palace”, as Sherrock is called, lost her first round match against the Dutch Jermaine Wattimena 1:3 on Sunday evening.
Wattimena will now face Schindler in round two on December 22nd. Sherrock kept up well, but missed too many chances in crucial moments – especially in the fourth set – and often struggled with herself. The 29-year-old won two games against men at the 2020 World Cup and thus made darts history. Since then there has not been another World Cup success by a woman against a man.
Suzuki meets Pietreczko
The second woman to be represented at Alexandra Palace is the Japanese Mikuru Suzuki. She meets the German Ricardo Pietreczko. The currently best woman, Beau Greaves from England, has decided not to take part in the World Cup because she previously competed at the Women’s World Cup. The PDC prohibited double participation.