Michael van Gerwen Wins Auckland Darts Masters

Michael van Gerwen Wins Auckland Darts Masters

MVG Wins in Auckland

Michael van Gerwen beat his compatriot Raymond van Barneveld in the final of the Auckland Darts Masters last Sunday. The win marked his return to winning ways and put his World Matchplay disappointment behind him during a dominant tournament which saw him win 37 legs and drop just 13.

After crashing out in the first round in Blackpool to another Dutchman, Jeffrey de Zwaan, the world number one thrashed World Cup teammate Barney 11-4 in Sunday’s final at the Trusts Arena. Only one round earlier, MVG destroyed Peter Wright 10-3, aided by an average of 102 plus consecutive checkouts of 170 and 164 in a match that looked to be heading in the direction of a whitewash until Snakebite clawed back a few legs and added a hint of respectability to the rout. All that after his rival had dispatched the World Matchplay champion Gary Anderson 10-4 in Saturday’s quarter-finals.

Other action from Auckland

For Barney, a win here would have been his first solo title since winning the Darts Premier League in 2014 but the former world number one was on the back foot throughout, quickly falling 6-1 behind. He did manage to put together a run of three successive legs to close things slightly, all the while landing five 180s compared to Mighty Mike’s one. The worse of the two averages wasn’t going to stop MVG, however, subsequently reeling off the next five legs without reply, including a checkout of 156.

MVG ended the final with an average of 97.62 over the 93.74 hit by Barney, who was appearing in his second Auckland Darts Masters Final after losing out to Adrian Lewis in 2015.

Barney was also in good form successfully seeing off Aussie Simon Whitlock in their semi-final match, hitting four 100+ checkouts and an average of 103 during a 10-5 victory that set him up in the final against Mighty Mike van Gerwen.

Incredibly, this was van Gerwen’s first World Series of Darts title of the year. Overall was MVG’s 16th tournament of the season and 110th singles title, not including his World Cup victories, which were won in partnership with Barney earlier this year.

Next up is the Melbourne Darts Masters on August 10 through 12, before the Brisbane Darts Masters, running August 17-19.

Melbourne Darts Masters betting tips

Last week’s winner — and quite possibly this week’s too — Michael van Gerwen, is the 8/11 favourite just ahead of Gary Anderson’ 5/1. Rob Cross comes next in the betting at 7/1, while Peter Wright is a decent 10/1, ahead of Michael ‘Bully Boy’ Smith’s 14’s, which is very a very handsome offer. Finally, Raymond van Barneveld’s 25/1 fills an all-Aussie sandwich of Corey Cadby’s 16’s and the 25/1 Betway have laid on Simon Whitlock.

Champions League of Darts 2018

The full draw for the upcoming Champions League of Darts was made recently, along with the schedule for the BBC-televised event, which takes place at The Brighton Centre on September 22-23. The format of the event is based on two groups of four, with the top two progressing to the semi-finals.

In the group stage, the players play each other once in a best of 19, with two points awarded for a win. The top two in each group will progress to the semi-finals, where the group winners will play the runners-up of the other group over 21 legs, with the two semi-final winners then meeting over a 21 leg final. The eight players making an appearance this year are Michael van Gerwen, Peter Wright, Rob Cross, Gary Anderson, Daryl Gurney, Simon Whitlock, Dave Chisnall and last year’s shock winner, Mensur Suljovic.

The Austrian defied pre-tournament odds of 40/1 a year ago when he beat Gary ‘The Flying Scotsman’ Anderson 11-9 to win his first major televised title, in a tourney in which he also beat tournament favourite Michael van Gerwen, who was knocked out in last year’s group stage. Can we expect similar upsets this time around? We will publish prices nearer to the event.

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Gary Anderson Wins World Matchplay Darts To complete Triple Crown Of Darts

Gary Anderson Wins World Matchplay Darts To complete Triple Crown Of Darts

Gary Anderson World Matchplay

Our pre-tourney outsider darts betting tip Mensur Suljovic came close to winning the World Matchplay Darts event, the biggest of his career thus far. Ultimately his efforts came up short after losing Sunday’s final to Gary Anderson, who can now claim to be a Triple Crown of Darts winner.

An exciting World Matchplay Final

In what was one of the greatest televised finals and the longest in Blackpool history, The Flying Scotsman won his first World Matchplay after defeating The Big Gentle 21-19. With his victory, Anderson becomes only the third player to achieve the feat. Anderson joins Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen to land the Triple Crown, which is made up of the World Matchplay Darts, the World Championship and Darts Premier League.

47-year-old Anderson had appeared on the brink of victory at 17-13 ahead before Suljovic reeled off four successive legs, including a 121 checkout on the bullseye, to ensure a thrilling battle in which both players needed to win by two clear legs. It was actually the Austrian who scored heaviest throughout the final with an average of 104.43, while Anderson landed 101.41. Both players hit 14x 180s.

Suljovic then moved 18-17 ahead before Anderson hit back to restore parity. The following two legs went with throw, but only after Anderson’s dart hit the bull wire which would have won him the title but instead bounced out to allow Suljovic to seize momentum with a superb 11-darter.

The match reached its conclusion when Anderson landed the double eight after Mensur dropped two attempts at 40. Anderson then rounded things off with a 15-darter on double 10.

On his way to glory, Anderson defeated Raymond van Barneveld before shooting down Joe Cullen with a magnificent nine-dart finish in the quarter-finals. On Saturday, he got the better of Mighty Mike’s conqueror Jeffrey de Zwaan, who also dispensed of Dave Chisnall and Adrian Lewis. His epic win on Sunday was his second TV major title of the season after the UK Open in Minehead back in March.

For Suljovic, this was his third major final and despite defeat, he will be really pleased to have pushed one of the game’s all-time greats to the limit. In making the final, Suljovic reached his first World Matchplay final after a hard-fought 17-13 victory over Peter Wright. Prior to this, the Austrian saw off Darren Webster, Ian White and Steve Beaton.

Auckland Darts Masters Betting Tips

The players now head Down Under for the next three weeks for the World Series which starts in Brisbane this Friday. The following two weekends will see players attend the Melbourne Darts Masters and the Brisbane Darts Masters.

The players representing the PDC include Michael van Gerwen, Peter Wright, Rob Cross, Gary Anderson, Kyle Anderson, Michael Smith, Raymond van Barneveld and Simon Whitlock, who is playing in his homeland.

The Wizard, last seen losing 16-5 to Peter Wright in Blackpool, is in a positive mood ahead of his visit home. The top-ranked Australian star, now seventh in the world, will be among the 16-players at the Trusts Arena from August 3-5. The remaining eight players — drawn from the Oceanic pool — are Corey Cadby, Cody Harris, Warren Parry, Haupai Puha, Tim Pusey, Tahuna Irwin, Mark McGrath and John Hurring.

None of locals are expected to offer much of a challenge to the eight players from PDC; however, and it goes without saying that Michael van Gerwen is the hot favourite at 4/5, while fresh of the back of his triple crown win is Gary Anderson, second favourite at 5/1.

Backers of Rob Cross will be pleased to find him available at 6/1, while Peter ‘Snakebite’ Wright fans would have to consider the 10’s offered by Betway to be excellent value. If you are considering backing an Aussie, take note of the 20/1 offered on Corey Cadby and the 40/1 price on Simon Whitlock’s head. Rarely, over the past few years, has Gary Anderson looked in as good a form as he showed last week and, at 5/1, I think he keep his form up a little longer even after the long journey south.

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