Chizzy Takes the Fifth in Leeuwarden

Dave Chisnall claimed his second European Tour triumph of 2023 with a repeat victory over Luke Humphries in Sunday’s Dutch Darts Championship final in Leeuwarden.

Chisnall overcame Humphries in February’s Baltic Sea Darts Open final, and added a second £30,000 prize by claiming the top honours at WTC Expo to pick up a fifth European Tour success.

The Morecambe star had looked on course to race away to victory in the final, with an 11-dart break of throw helping him establish a three-leg cushion from 4-1.

Humphries defied two 13-darters from Chisnall as he battled back to trail by just one leg, as he followed a 12-darter with a break of throw.

Chisnall, though, crucially broke back with a 14-darter to lead 7-5 before landing double ten to seal glory.

“Luke is not just a great player, he’s a great friend and I’ve got so much respect for him,” said Chisnall, who has now claimed five European Tour wins.

“You have to play 100 averages to beat him – unfortunately he didn’t play like he did before but I took advantage and hit my doubles.

“Now, it’s so hard – you have to hit 100 averages to win tournaments. All the players are so good – there are no easy games any more.”

Chisnall began Sunday’s Finals Day with a 6-3 win over Josh Rock before performing superbly to see off world number two Peter Wright 6-1 in the quarter-finals.

The 42-year-old led 3-0 in his semi-final against Van Gerwen before the home favourite fired in a 170 finish, before hitting back from 5-2 down to level.

The game eventually went to a deciding leg as seven missed match darts gave Van Gerwen a chance to swoop – but he uncharacteristically spurned three darts at double six to allow Chisnall back to book his spot in the decider.

Humphries, meanwhile, battled past the last two UK Open champions, Andrew Gilding and Danny Noppert, on his way to the final, and also defied a 170 checkout from Damon Heta with a 7-3 semi-final victory.

“I’ll always take positives – I feel like I put up a good fight,” admitted Humphries. “Apart from Ryan Searle, [Dave] is my best mate on tour, we get along really well, I know his game inside out.

“Considering he played really well I got close to him, but I’m really disappointed because I played nowhere like I can.

“I know there’s more European Tour titles in me, but I keep running into a fantastic player and I have to give credit to Chizzy. I’m happy to make the final, gutted not to win but the better man won.”

Van Gerwen’s bid to claim European Tour glory in his home country was ended at the semi-final stage by Chisnall, after he had defeated Martin Schindler and Keane Barry earlier on Sunday.

Another Dutchman, Noppert, was a narrow quarter-final loser, joining Barry, Wright and Stephen Bunting in exiting at the last eight stage.

The PDC European Tour continues from May 5-7 with the Blåkläder Belgian Darts Open (ET7) in Wieze, where 48 players will compete at the Oktoberhallen in the £175,000 event.

The tournament will be broadcast live on Viaplay, DAZN and PDCTV (excluding Germany, Austria and Switzerland) and through bookmakers’ websites worldwide.

2023 Dutch Darts Championship

Sunday April 30

Afternoon Session

Third Round

Keane Barry 6-5 Ryan Searle

Michael van Gerwen 6-2 Martin Schindler

Peter Wright 6-4 Michael Smith

Dave Chisnall 6-3 Josh Rock

Stephen Bunting 6-4 Dirk van Duijvenbode

Damon Heta 6-1 Berry van Peer

Danny Noppert 6-5 Nathan Aspinall

Luke Humphries 6-4 Andrew Gilding