Dirk van Duijvenbode failed to take the title on Saturday in the first edition of the Dutch Darts Masters. The Dutchman lost in the final battle in the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam with hard figures (8-2) from the Belgian Dimitri Van den Bergh.
29-year-old Van Duijvenbode impressed on Friday by beating reigning world champion Peter Wright, after which he also dealt with compatriot Martijn Kleermaker (6-4) and defeated James Wade on Saturday in a thriller (7-6).
In the final battle, Van Duijvenbode was unable to continue that line against 27-year-old Van den Bergh, who is in great form. The Belgian took a 4-0 lead in legs, then ran to 6-1 and won 8-2. In total, Van den Bergh only lost seven legs in his four matches in this tournament.
Michael van Gerwen was already eliminated on Friday in the first round of the Dutch Darts Masters. The three-time world champion, who had surgery on his wrist nine days earlier, did not make it against Danny Noppert.
Van den Bergh’s second overall win in World Series of Darts
The Dutch Darts Masters was held for the first time this year and it is the third event of a total of six tournaments of the World Series of Darts. Michael Smith won the US Darts Masters early this month by beating Van Gerwen in the final in New York and Van den Bergh was also the strongest at the Nordic Darts Masters in Copenhagen last week.
In the Ziggo Dome, Van den Bergh only defeated Dutchmen. He dealt with Ron Meulenkamp and Jermaine Wattimena, after which he was in a class of his own in the semi-final against Noppert (7-2) on Saturday with an average of 103.56.
Van den Bergh was also supreme in the final battle against Van Duijvenbode and even threw an average of 104.60. The contrast was great with Van Duijvenbode who recorded an average of 94.01.