Giant duel at the Darts World Cup
Old acquaintance throws van Gerwen out on edge
Updated 12/30/2025 – 10:27 p.mReading time: 4 minutes
Most recently, the German World Cup debutant Arno Merk failed due to Michael van Gerwen. Gary Anderson then showed the Dutchman the limits.
The two-time title holder Gary Anderson has thrown Michael van Gerwen out of the tournament at the World Darts Championship in London. “The Flying Scotsman”, as the 55-year-old is called, clearly won 4-1 against the three-time world champions from the Netherlands in a top-class round of 16. In 2017, the two darts greats faced each other in the World Cup final, and van Gerwen won.
After his World Cup titles in 2014, 2017 and 2019, the Dutchman still has to wait for his fourth triumph at Alexandra Palace. In his title years, van Gerwen completely dominated the darts scene. After the clear defeat against Anderson, he is now even in danger of falling out of the top four in the world rankings.
Van Gerwen 1:4 (0:1, 1:1, 1:2, 1:3, 1:4) Anderson
5th set, 4th leg: It’s not van Gerwen’s evening. He makes too many mistakes and keeps failing at doubles. With his second match dart, Anderson takes victory.
5th set, 3rd leg: Both players are level for a long time. At the crucial moment, Anderson pulls away, but he misses the double 8. And van Gerwen also fails. Anderson misses the double 4 three times, van Gerwen doesn’t keep his nerve. Anderson doesn’t miss the next chance.
5th set, 2nd leg: Anderson is only two legs away from the quarterfinals. But van Gerwen doesn’t give up so quickly. With his third dart he gets the leg over double 10.
5th set, 1st leg: The pressure on van Gerwen is now great. Anderson has the throw-off and wants to get the next leg straight away – and manages to do so.
4th set, 4th leg: The “Flying Scotsman” is in the lead and van Gerwen now makes a few mistakes too many. Anderson’s scoring is fine, he is left with two set darts – and although he misses the first, the second lands on double 20. This means he has one leg in the quarter-finals and is only one set away.
4th set, 3rd leg: Anderson now has nine 180s. The Scot gets into the finish area first and confidently plays down 81 remaining. This means he is leading in the legs again.
4th set, 2nd leg: A real exchange of blows has now developed. Anderson misses three times, van Gerwen knows how to take advantage and equalizes.