Darter Michael van Gerwen has reached the final of the UK Open for the fourth time. The 33-year-old from Brabant, who has already won the tournament three times as the FA Cup of darts, defeated the Belgian Dimitri Van den Bergh 11-6 in the semi-finals. Later on Sunday evening in Minehead, Van Gerwen will compete with the Englishman Andrew Gilding for the top prize of 110,000 pounds, which is about 125,000 euros.
‘Mighty Mike’ defeated Van den Bergh 6-0 in sets in the semi-finals of the World Cup at the beginning of this year. In Minehead, where legs are played for, Van Gerwen started stiffly. The three-time world champion missed a lot of doubles in the opening phase, but then picked up steam. From 3-3, the player from Brabant won five legs in a row. Van den Bergh came a bit closer, but Van Gerwen did not relinquish the game. Earlier in the day, the Dutchman had beaten Englishman Nathan Aspinall 10-6 in the quarterfinals.
Gilding is in the final of a major tournament for the first time. The 52-year-old ‘Goldfinger’ defeated the Czech surprise Adam Gawlas in the semi-finals 11-6.
Danny Noppert, winner of the UK Open last year, was already eliminated on Saturday. Van Gerwen won the tournament in 2015, 2016 and 2020.
Source: ANP
