Kirsi Viinikainen and Paul Krohne capped off a big weekend in Antwerp by lifting the WDF Belgium Open titles.
Paul lifted his crown by beating Jerry Hendriks 5-0 in Sunday’s final and sealing the whitewash with a 110 checkout.
It was the German’s third WDF Silver ranking title of the year, following wins at the Dutch Open in February and the Swiss Open in June, and moves him closer to Mitchell Lawrie at the top of the WDF World rankings.
The win came just a day after disappointment on the same trip. Krohne had reached the final of Saturday’s Antwerp Open, the other Silver event staged across the weekend, only to be beaten 5-1 by Jaimy van de Weerd.
Bouncing back within 24 hours to win a second ranking event says as much about Krohne’s current form as either result on its own.Krohne’s route to victory went through Scott Robertson in the semis, a 4-2 win setting up a final against Hendriks, who’d edged past Moreno Blom by the same scoreline in the other semi-final.
The final itself was one-sided: Krohne never let Hendriks into it, closing out a 5-0 win capped by that 110 finish. Krohne’s regular doubles partner Danny Diller also had a solid weekend individually, reaching the last 16 after the pair won Friday’s warm-up event together.
It continues a remarkable run for Krohne in 2026. His Dutch Open win back in February was a landmark result in its own right, making him the first German player to win the event and coming with a final comeback against Corné Groeneveld, saving two match darts before closing it out 3-2.
Add the Swiss Open in June, and Belgium now makes it three silver ranking titles on the year. This form has been the perfect remedy to narrowing the gap to Lawrie at the summit of the world rankings.
Kirsi Viinikainen made it back-to-back Antwerp weekend titles of her own, following up Saturday’s Antwerp Open 5-0 win over Aileen de Graaf with a 5-1 final victory in the Belgium Open, again beating De Graaf in the final.
Viinikainen eased past Emillie D’Hondt 4-0 in the semi finals while De Graaf progressed by the same scoreline in the other half of the draw. But she couldn’t find an answer to Viinikainen in either final across the weekend.
Images: PDC
