2023-10-06 22:12:00
At the Darts World Grand Prix 2023 (LIVE on SPORT1) In Leicester, Martin Schindler suffered a bitter 3-0 defeat against Gerwyn Price in the quarter-finals. “The Wall”, who was the first German ever to reach the round of the last eight at this event, narrowly missed the maximum penalty.
It was only in the ninth leg that he was able to check out for the first – and only – time and thus avoid a complete zero score. “I didn’t score that well. “But Martin wasn’t in his top form today,” said Price, who also won his third match in Leicester without losing a set, reviewing the game in the winner’s interview.
Schindler, who as number 25 in the PDC Order of Merit had the lowest ranking of the remaining quarter-finalists, was only able to keep up with the “Iceman” in the first set. He had the chance for checkouts in both the first and second legs, but missed the double squares each time and had to watch his opponent pull away.
After this short phase of weakness at the beginning, in the first leg, Price missed his first five darts to double-in, the Welshman turned up the heat more and more and hardly made any mistakes on the double fields. Entering the game with the lowest double-in rate of all quarterfinalists, Price hit 53 percent of his double-ins that night and often followed up with a triple.
Schindler climbs the Order of Merit
Schindler had nothing to counter this darts primal force that evening. Especially since the German himself only managed 37 percent of his double-ins. It was also a kind of déjà vu for the 27-year-old. Last year Price was also the final stop. At that time he was eliminated in the first round (0:2).
For Schindler it was his eleventh defeat in his 15th duel with Price. In the PDC Order of Merit he moved up one place by reaching the quarterfinals and climbed to 24th place.
Price, on the other hand, still has a lot to do in this event, which he already won in 2020. “It was a good performance, but I still have more in the tank,” he said, looking ahead to the next task, which is a tough one. In the semi-finals, Michael Smith is waiting for the “Iceman”.
Darts World Grand Prix: Price outclasses Schindler
The current world champion did not show any weakness in his quarter-final match against Andrew Gilding and also secured the semi-final with a 3-0 win. This means the “Bully Boy” can continue to dream of his first title at the World Grand Prix. So far, the Englishman’s best result has been two round of 16 appearances (2015 and 2019).
What a mega comeback from Luke Humphries
In the third game of the evening, Peter Wright was already on the road to victory. But instead of confidently closing the bag after a 2-0 set lead, “Cool Hand Luke” lived up to his name and turned the match into a 3-2 win.
Even the three match darts that “Snakebite” couldn’t use in the fourth set didn’t faze the 28-year-old. How focused he was at that point was shown in the winner’s interview after the match. “Did he have three match darts? “I can’t even remember,” the Englishman admitted. In the end, the only thing that prevailed for Humphries was joy. “Honestly, I’m so proud of myself. “That’s a huge victory,” he said with a broad grin.
However, he also found words of praise for his opponent. “That was the best Peter Wright,” he said when asked about his opponent’s performance.
Darts World Grand Prix: Incredible comeback from Humphries
But for the best “Snakebite” the following applies once again: no title at the World Grand Prix. Humphries, on the other hand, can continue to dream of his first major title. In the semi-finals it’s against Joe Cullen.
Cullen with a true rockstar finish
The “Rockstar” had a close fight with Chris Dobey, which ended with a 3-2 win for Cullen. For a long time it was a world-class duel. In the fifth set it was a pure battle of wills. Both opponents had problems with scoring. But when Dobey secured three match darts on 40-rest, Cullen showed off his class. He checked his remaining 121 points via the Single-20, Triple-17 and Bulls Eye.
This means that the 34-year-old is in the semi-finals of this event for the first time, while “Hollywood” can only watch the tournament as a spectator.
Friday’s quarter-final duels:
Gerwyn Price – Martin Schindler 3:0 (3:0, 3:0, 3:1)Michael Smith – Andrew Gilding 3:0 (3:1, 3:0, 3:2)Peter Wright – Luke Humphries 2:3 (3:1, 3:2, 1:3, 2:3, 2:3)Chris Dobey – Joe Cullen 2:3 (0:3, 3:1, 3:1, 1:3, 1:3)
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