{"id":5163,"date":"2023-03-16T13:48:19","date_gmt":"2023-03-16T13:48:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/2023\/03\/column-cm123-uk-open-third-day\/"},"modified":"2024-02-14T20:58:27","modified_gmt":"2024-02-14T20:58:27","slug":"column-cm123-uk-open-third-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/2023\/03\/column-cm123-uk-open-third-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Column #CM123 UK Open \u2013 Third Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wednesday, March 16, 2023
\nColumn CM123
\nUK Open \u2013 Third Day<\/strong><\/p>\n

After the quarterfinals all remaining participants were known and much of the suspense had somehow dissipated on finals day. \u00a0It seemed it would only be a question of against whom Michael van Gerwen would play in the final, which he would win anyhow. \u00a0But one hoped for interesting and thrilling matches.<\/p>\n

For me, this hope was unfulfilled in the first quarterfinal between Andrew Gilding and Martin Schindler.\u00a0 Perhaps the young German had run our of steam – at least he was far from maintining his earlier good performances.\u00a0 His scoring was not as strong and he had lost his accuracy on the doubles as well. \u00a0To be sure Andrew Gilding is a tough opponent but one had expected a little bit more from Schindler. \u00a0So, he was demolished 4-10 and Gilding reached for the second time in his career the semi-finals of the UK Open.<\/p>\n

Nathan Aspinall fared a little bit better in the second quarterfinal but he did not do enough to be much of a problem for Michael van Gerwen. \u00a0The Dutchman was far from flawless either, quite often throwing low scores and several times experiencing double trouble.<\/p>\n

The third quarterfinal was a little bit more surprising. \u00a0Many had hoped for a Cross\/van Gerwen final but Cross took too long to get going and then it was too late against young Czech Adam Gawlas.\u00a0 To be sure the Gawlas win was an upset.<\/p>\n

The last quarterfinal was not a good or thrilling match either. \u00a0Richie Burnett failed to perform magic once again.\u00a0 Dimitri van den Bergh was just too strong, though he was far from outstanding as well.<\/p>\n

And once again and for the last time a draw took place. \u00a0In the first semi-final Adam Gawlas would play against Andrew Gilding and after that Dimitri van den Bergh would face Michael van Gerwen. \u00a0It looked as though a fourth UK Open win for van Gerwen was inevitable – no player still in the tournament looked like a real danger for him (despite his inconsistent scoring and problems with the doubles).<\/p>\n

At the break all fortified themselves and the players disappeared from the venue…<\/p>\n

Then the event continued.\u00a0 It felt a little bit like one could have handed van Gerwen the trophy without playing semi-finals and a final.<\/p>\n

First, Adam Gawlas and Andrew Gilding came on stage – two players with a similar playing rhythms and both seemingly detached, with a poker faces. \u00a0But Gawlas was unable to present a threat for Gilding – he played his probably weakest match of the tournament. \u00a0He was not bad on his doubles but had few chances to throw on them. \u00a0Gilding won 11-6 and for the first time reached the final.<\/p>\n

In the second semi-final it was van den Bergh who had no chance against van Gerwen and he was even worse on his doubles. \u00a0There were chances for the Belgian as van Gerwen was far from accurate on his doubles as well and again produced some very low scores. \u00a0But for some reason the Belgian was not able to take out his doubles. \u00a0Perhaps he was too much in awe, perhaps he was just tired by now or he had already more or less accepted the inevitable before the match even started.<\/p>\n

And so, we had an unexpected final between Michael van Gerwen and Andrew Gilding. \u00a0And despite what we had already seen from Gilding during the tournament most were sure it would be a van Gerwen win – perhaps as all were convinced van Gerwen would be able to change up a gear should it be necessary.<\/p>\n

So far he had not be really challenged – the most probably in the fourth round against Dave Chisnall – but his A-game just had not been necessary. \u00a0Perhaps he had lulled himself in a false sense of security or didn’t take Gilding seriously but the final didn’t go according to plan.<\/p>\n

van Gerwen couldn’t get rid of Gilding who just played his own march never panicking, even when behind – it was impressive. \u00a0Gilding drew 9-9, then 10-10 – and suddenly the thrill was back. \u00a0van Gerwen didn’t play a weak deciding leg, but Gilding threw a 180 at a crucial moment and then even managed to set up a double tops finish, which brought a smile to his face. \u00a0And he hit tops while van Gerwen sat on 16. \u00a0As the sayings goes – a darts match is never until the last dart is thrown.\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

So, after three days of darts the UK Open 2\u00df23 was history. \u00a0It was a tournament with a lot of upsets and highlights and with a surprise winner.<\/p>\n

The final will sticks in my memory as will Richie Burnett’s progress into the quarterfinals, the first quarterfinal of a German players in this event, the performance of young Czech Adam Gawlas and the great matches of 16-year-old Luke Littler and Thomas Banks.<\/p>\n

And the event showed that hard work pays – that’s at least to what Andrew Gilding credits his success.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After the quarterfinals all remaining participants were known and much of the suspense had somehow dissipated on finals 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Mutschler","author_link":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/author\/charis-mutschler\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"After the quarterfinals all remaining participants were known and much of the suspense had somehow dissipated on finals day...","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"authors":[{"term_id":14,"user_id":3,"is_guest":0,"slug":"charis-mutschler","display_name":"Charis Mutschler","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Charis-150-150.png","url2x":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Charis-150-150.png"},"first_name":"Charis","last_name":"Mutschler","user_url":"http:\/\/www.globaldarts.de\/","job_title":"","description":"Charis Mutschler is from Marbach, near Stuttgart, Germany. Her husband introduced her to the sport by bringing a dartboard into their marriage (or was it to their wedding?), turning her from a librarian by day into a darts fanatic by night. Charis has been writing about the sport for years and is a regular at most PDC majors, from which she provides reports and conducts player interviews. She is bilingual and cultured, with a love for literature, dance, music, cats, and the conservation movement. Charis\u2019 writings about darts and its players often transcend the typical, showcasing her class and distinction, unlike Dartoid and the Old Dart Coach."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5163"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5163\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5193,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5163\/revisions\/5193"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5163"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=5163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}