With fits and starts, Michael van Gerwen started on Saturday evening in the second round of the World Cup darts. De Brabander had to give up the first set to his unknown opponent Chas Barstow, but managed to turn the tide in time (3-1).
The 32-year-old Dutchman eventually qualified relatively easily for the next round. The three-time world champion does not own a single major title and can therefore use another major success in ‘Ally Pally’.
Never before each other
The meeting between Van Gerwen and Barstow, who had never played an official match against each other before, was anything but predictable at first. It was exactly the man who doesn’t even have a PDC Tour Card who took the first set.
The man from Vlijmen, this year’s number three on the placement list, missed seven set arrows out of the blue and let his opponent come back in the match in this way. It was a series of misses that the bearded Brit made grateful use of.
–
