The WDF’s four-event swing through in Makarska produced one of the standout individual weekends of the season, with 16-year-old Kaya Baysal claiming seven of the eight senior and youth singles titles on offer across the JAKO Sport Classic, PSK Masters, Croatia Classic and Apfel Masters.
Priscilla Steenbergen and András Borbély also picked up multiple honours as the four-day festival at the Apfel Arena wrapped up on Sunday.
Baysal sets the tone
The Burnley-born teenager who became the youngest ever winner of a senior WDF event when he claimed the 2025 Budapest Classic aged just 14, opened the week with a title double in Thursday’s JAKO Sport Classic.
He beat Michal Markievic 4-0 in the Youth final before adding his third senior WDF title with a 5-1 win over Davy van der Zande, sealed with a 107.
Friday brought his standout performance of the week. Baysal produced a 113.86 average to beat András Borbély 5-0 in the senior PSK Masters Final, reeling off legs in 14,13,10 and 11 darts before closing out in 18 – form that would be exceptional from a seasoned player – let alone a 16-year-old still competing in the Youth ranks on the same circuit.
Saturday’s Croatia Classic brought a fifth title of the festival, and his 15th WDF Youth title overall, after surviving a last-leg decider in the quarter-finals before beating Tomas Mikulka in the semis and Adrian Rajic 4-0 in the final.
By Sunday, the only question left was whether he could complete the set. After missing out in the main Croatia Classic to Romeo Grvbac in the last-16, he added to his haul in the Youth ranks, defeating Hungary’s Zsombor Baka 5-0 in the Apfel Masters final for a clean sweep of all four Youth events.
The senior Apfel Masters proved a tougher watch. Baysal needed eight 140s and checkouts of 92, 106 and 120 to see of Jiri Brejcha 5-4 in a final that went the distance, completing his collection of seven from a possible eight singles title across the week.
Steenbergen and Borbely add to the honours board
Priscilla Steenbergen, known on the circuit as “The Smurf”, arrived in Croatia in career-best form having won the Dutch Open in February, and left with two more titles to show for it.
The Dutch woman opened with a 5-0 win over Italy’s Giada Ciofi in Thursday’s Women’s JAKO Sport Classic, hitting finishes of 80 and 98, before backing it up as top seed in Saturday’s Croatia Classic, throwing a maximum in the winning leg to beat home favourite Marina Letica 5-2.
Andras Borbely, runner-up to Baysal in Friday’s PSK Masters, made amends on Saturday by winning the Croatia Classic itself, his third WDF title of the season.
The Hungarian threw two 180s and an 11-darter in the final against Matthew Edgar, and needed a dramatic decider to get over the line, finding 100 with Edgar waiting on 16.
Finland’s Maret Liiri claimed her second WDF title of the year in Friday’s Women’s PSK Masters, beating Austrian teenager Celina Glaser in the semi-finals before finishing off Slovenia’s Petra Klemencic 5-1 in the final.
The bigger picture
Four ranking events across four days made for a heavy workload even by WDF circuit standards, and Baysal’s near total dominance of the singles titles on offer will only add to the growing sense that his early breakthrough in Budapest last year was no one-off.
With Steenbergen also confirming her rise into the upper echelons of the women’s game, Makarska produced plenty for the WDF rankings to digest heading into the rest of the season.
Images: PDC
