Poland’s Krzysztof Ratajski picked up his third European Tour Title in Leverkusen on Sunday evening as he achieved victory in one of the longest running events on the circuit, the European Darts Open.
The Polish Eagle secured his first continental title in three years with a hard-fought win over Jermaine Wattimena that closed off a weekend of surprises, emotion and technical excellence.
The win sealed a hard fought route to glory in the Bavarian city, as he put a long list of impressive names to the sword enroute to glory, before eventually getting past Wattimena in the showpiece match.
His campaign began with a tricky second round match against hometown-hero Max Hopp. With the crowd well on the side of the German, Ratajski quickly snuffed out the momentum and established himself on-stage. Despite a late fightback and some showmanship from Hopp, Rataksi cruised through with a 6-3 victory.
In the next round, Ratajski came through a dress rehearsal with Gian van Veen, before the pair lock horns at Blackpool’s Winter Gardens next week. In a resilient display, Ratajski dispatched Van Veen, in yet another 6-3 win.
And the gritty results did not stop there, as the difficult task of facing reigning champion Nathan Aspinall arrived. Krzysztof came out a 6-3 winner, after hitting 50% of his doubles to set up a bout with fellow countryman and World Cup partner Sebastian Bialecki, who was on his own dream run, reaching the final session of a European Tour event for the first time.
And the performance of the weekend for Ratajski came at just the right time. Averaging just north of a ton, he shook off Bialecki 7-5. The pair were locked at 4-4 before Ratajski found parity and extended his lead with a break to lead 6-4. From there, he saw out the win in typically efficient fashion.
Into the final and Ratajski soon found himself in prime position, storming to a three-zip lead. But some missed doubles saw the Pole give up five of the next six legs as yet again the pendulum swung in Ostermann-Arena.
Though from there, it was one way traffic as the former World Master’s saw the match out, winning the last four legs and getting the job done 8-6.
In taking the title, Ratajski extended his winning run in European Tour finals to three from three. It may not have been the highest quality final of the continental calendar, but it will mean all the same to Ratajski, who picked up the £35,000 kitty.
After picking up the trophy, Ratajski expressed his surprise:
“I’m really happy… but it was very difficult for me, I don’t know what to say. I didn’t expect it, I would’ve been happy with a last-eight or last-four, but with the win I didn’t expect it.”
Following success, he will take more than enough confidence to Blackpool next week, as he will return to The Winter Gardens after missing out last year.
European Darts Open – Day three results:
Round three:
Jermaine Wattimena 6-1 Ryan Joyce
Luke Woodhouse 6-5 Jonny Clayton
Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-3 Wessel Nijman
Damon Heta 6-4 Michael van Gerwen
Sebastian Bialecki 6-4 Kevin Doets
James Wade 6-2 Jan Schmidt
Nathan Aspinall 6-4 Ross Smith
Krzysztof Ratajski 6-3 Gian van Veen
Quarter-finals:
Jermaine Wattimena 6-5 Luke Woodhouse
Damon Heta 6-2 Dirk van Duijvenbode
Sebastian Bialecki 6-2 James Wade
Krzysztof Ratajski 6-4 Nathan Aspinall
Semi-finals
Jermaine Wattimena 7-3 Damon Heta
Krzysztof Ratajski 7-5 Sebastian Bialecki
Final
Krzysztof Ratajski 8-6 Jermaine Wattimena
Images: PDC Europe
