Van Gerwen breaks negative series in the Premier League, but ends up in the semi-finals

NOS Sports•today, 11:18 PM

Michael van Gerwen failed to reach the final on the ninth matchday of the Premier League. In the semi-finals, the seven-time competition winner defeated Luke Littler 6-3.

The 17-year-old Littler was ultimately the strongest in Belfast: he defeated Nathan Aspinall 6-4 in the final.

The meeting between Van Gerwen and Littler was the fourth time they met in the prestigious darts competition, in which Littler is participating for the first time after a spectacular World Cup. Van Gerwen won the first two encounters, after which the Englishman was the strongest twice.

Although Van Gerwen lost the match on Thursday, reaching the semi-finals was in itself a small victory for the 34-year-old Brabander. In the previous four weeks he always ended up in the quarter-finals, the first round of a Premier League match.

In the capital of Northern Ireland, Van Gerwen broke that negative streak by beating Englishman Michael Smith 6-4 earlier in the evening. Van Gerwen fought back beautifully from a 2-4 deficit in that match, partly thanks to throwing scores of 144 and 150.

Van Gerwen also faced a 2-4 deficit in the semi-final against Littler, but there was no new comeback. Van Gerwen failed to throw a score of 105 after his last dart ended under double-twenty.

Littler had a score of 110 on the board at that time and what Van Gerwen could not achieve, the Englishman managed to achieve. His last arrow did end up in the right box: a new tap delivered by Littler, who threw almost three times as many maximum scores.

This made the task even greater for Van Gerwen, who already looked vulnerable. He now had to win four legs in a row and he couldn’t do that. Littler finally finished the match by throwing out a score of 24 with his first match dart through the double-twelve.

After a strong start to the competition, Van Gerwen is still on course for a place in the play-offs.