MWith the World Grand Prix in a week, the darts year is entering its hot phase. Twelve tournaments take place within nine weeks, including four majors, before the season highlight, the World Cup, begins on December 15th.
The Belgian Darts Open this weekend was therefore not just an important tournament for many players to qualify for the World Cup, World Grand Prix or European Championships. With a view to the decisive weeks, they also served as the last endurance test and a meaningful barometer of form.
At least that’s what we can hope for from a German point of view, since Gabriel Clemens and Martin Schindler were two Germans in the quarter-finals for the first time on the European Tour.
Have fun: Martin Schindler (left) and Gabriel Clemens reached the quarter-finals at the Team World Championships in June
Source: dpa/Uwe Anspach
Schindler, who, like Clemens, had slipped onto the seeding list due to the cancellations of Gerwyn Price, Michael Smith and Luke Humphries, had reached the round of the top eight players for the third time this season after convincing victories against Karel Sedlacek and Rusty-Jake Rodriguez. Clemens, on the other hand, celebrated his premiere in the final session on Sunday evening and was only the third German quarter-finalist after Schindler, Max Hopp and Dragutin Horvat.
Clemens increases his EM chance
Much more important for Clemens that he was able to use the penultimate tournament of the tournament series on the European mainland to have good chances of reaching the European Championships again before the final tournament in Gibraltar on October 14th. Only the 32 best professionals qualify for the European Championship, which will be played in Dortmund from October 27th to 30th. Clemens is now 26. “That was a win for the European Championship. I hope I can play this European Championship in Germany,” said the “German Giant” after his 6-3 win over Rob Cross, with which Clemens increased his record against the 2019 world champion to 6-1.
The Saarlander presented himself in great form in Wieze, Belgium, and hit the doubles with an almost sleepwalking certainty. Ryan Meikle, his English opponent in the second round, had to watch how Clemens even managed to finish all six attempts with his 6:1, four of which meant a high finish.
Clemens also showed himself confident on the doubles against world-class man Jonny Clayton and went 2-0 up after a 64 finish. However, the Welshman countered and made it clear with a 141 that Clemens would have to call up his full potential again to make it into the semi-finals. However, Clemens missed the Shanghai finish with 120 points remaining on the double 20 in order to regain a cushion and had to accept the 2:2.
Clayton beat Clemens, who had also thrown a high finish against Cross, with his own weapons, checked 156 to make it 3:3. The German was ready for a break with 80 remaining but remained stable. Two darts were enough to erase 93 points and take a 5:4 lead.
In the tenth leg, Clemens had the chance to win and reach the semifinals, but missed three match darts in a row, one on double 12 and two on double six. Clayton punished the mistakes over double 16. In the decider, the German number one weakened again in the decisive phase and only scored 44 points with 116 remaining. Ultimately, however, unimportant, since Clayton downplayed 64 points to win and extended his record against Clemens to 10:2. Clemens ended up with an average of 96.46 points and 41.7 percent on the doubles.
For Schindler, too, the journey came to an end in his third quarterfinals of the season – albeit much less spectacular. The 26-year-old started against Andrew Gilding with 14 darts to make it 1-0, but was then unable to bring his game to the stage (average: 84.73, double quota 25 percent) and conceded breaks to 1: 2 and 1: 4. At the latest when the quirky Englishman then made it 5:1, the preliminary decision was made. Schindler was only able to reduce the deficit to 2:5 and in the fourth duel with “Goldfinger” Gilding suffered the fourth bankruptcy.
In the world rankings, Schindler, who is certainly qualified for World Grand Prix, European Championships, Players Championship Finals and the World Championships, nevertheless climbed one place up and is now 36th.
Here darts professional Martin Schindler imitates his colleagues
Martin Schindler is not only one of the best German darts professionals. He is also an excellent impersonator. Here he recreates six world-class players. Do you recognize these players?
Belgian Darts Open Results
2nd round:
Damon Heta (AUS) – Rusty-Jake Rodriguez (AUT) 5:6
Gabriel Clemens (D) – Ryan Meikle (ENG) 6:1
Martin Schindler (D) – Karel Sedlacek (CZE) 6:2
Ryan Searle (ENG) – Bradley Brooks (ENG) 6:1
Jose de Sousa (POR) – Ross Smith (ENG) 6:5
Dave Chisnall (ENG) – Jelle Klaasen (NED) 6:2
Dirk van Duijvenbode (NED) – Mervyn King (ENG) 6:5
Nathan Aspinall (ENG) – Jamie Hughes (ENG) 6:1
Rob Cross (ENG) – Mike De Decker (BEL) 6:4
Jonny Clayton (WAL) – Keane Barry (IRL) 6:5
Dimitri van den Bergh (BEL) – Andrew Gilding (ENG) 5:6
Peter Wright (SCO) – Niels Zonneveld (NED) 5:6
Joe Cullen (ENG) – Dennis Nilsson (SWE) 6:2
Michael van Gerwen (NED) – Kim Huybrechts (BEL) 4:6
Adrian Lewis (ENG) – Boris Krcmar (ENG) 6:1
Danny Noppert (NED) – Madars Razme (LAT) 6:5
Round of 16:
Niels Zonneveld (NED) – Andrew Gilding (ENG) 3:6
Martin Schindler (D) – Rusty-Jake Rodriguez (AUT) 6:3
Jonny Clayton (WAL) – Dirk van Duijvenbode (NED) 6:4
Rob Cross (ENG) – Gabriel Clemens (D) 3:6
Jose de Sousa (POR) – Ryan Searle (ENG) 6:4
Dave Chisnall (ENG) – Nathan Aspinall (ENG) 6:4
Joe Cullen (ENG) – Danny Noppert (NED) 4:6
Kim Huybrechts (BEL) – Adrian Lewis (ENG) 1:6
Quarterfinals:
Andrew Gilding (ENG) – Martin Schindler (D) 6:2
Jonny Clayton (WAL) – Gabriel Clemens (D) 6:5
Jose de Sousa (POR) – Dave Chisnall (ENG) 2:6
Danny Noppert (NED) – Adrian Lewis (ENG) 6:3
Semifinals:
Andrew Gilding (ENG) – Jonny Clayton (WAL) 7:5
Dave Chisnall (ENG) – Danny Noppert (NED) 7:4
Finale:
Andrew Gilding (ENG) – Dave Chisnall (ENG)
