Michael van Gerwen was eliminated in the first round on the Premier League evening in Rotterdam Ahoy. The best darts player in the Netherlands lost 6-5 to the Englishman Nathan Aspinall in front of his own audience.
In the decisive eleventh leg, Aspinall finished convincingly by throwing out 118 with tops, or double 20. In the previous inning, Van Gerwen had scored 39, after which he walked back shaking his head. Van Gerwen averaged 91.2, slightly higher than Aspinall’s average score of 90.8.
Van Gerwen had come back to 4-4 after a 4-2 deficit, but again surrendered his own leg at that score. Partly due to whistle concerts from the audience, Aspinall was unable to finish at 5-4, but at 5-5 he did benefit from a number of bad innings from the Dutchman. Van Gerwen then drifted off to Ahoy disappointed.
Last year, the number 3 in the world reached the final in Ahoy. He then lost 6-5 to Jonny Clayton.
Sold out Ahoy
Van Gerwen has won three Premier League nights this season. His last victory dates from the beginning of March. Then he was the best in Liverpool.
Earlier in the evening Gerwyn Price won 6-3 against reigning world champion Michael Smith and Clayton was 6-4 too strong for Chris Dobey. The Belgian Dimitri Van den Bergh defeated Peter Wright and now meets Aspinall.
Ahoy is sold out with 11,000 spectators. It is the twelfth round of the season. After sixteen evenings, the best four qualify for the play-offs.
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