Michael van Gerwen and Cor Dekker produced stunning nine-darters on a record-breaking day at the Hungarian Darts Trophy, as Gabriel Clemens defeated Luke Humphries on Day Two in Budapest.
Van Gerwen and Dekker made history with their heroics in Saturday’s second round at the MVM Dome, on a day which featured multiple nine-darters for the first time in European Tour history.
Dutch supremo Van Gerwen achieved the feat in the opening leg of his 6-2 victory against Martin Lukeman, before conjuring up 157 and 154 checkouts to triumph with a 104.52 average.
Van Gerwen will renew his rivalry with Clemens in the last 16, after the German No 2 continued his resurgence with a thrilling last-leg victory against world No 1 Humphries.
“I’m here to do something special. I think this crowd deserved it,” claimed Van Gerwen, fresh from winning his first ranking title of 2024 at Players Championship 21 on Wednesday.
“I really under-performed here last year, but the most important thing was to win this game with a solid performance.
“I think there’s still a lot more in the tank because I feel good, I feel sharp, and there’s a lot more to fight for tomorrow (Sunday).”
Clemens defied a 101 average and five maximums to prevail in a high-quality affair against Humphries in the Hungarian capital, sealing his progress with a 14-dart break of throw in the decider.
Luke Humphries suffered a shock defeat to Gabriel Clemens on the night
The 41-year-old averaged 107 to defeat Van Gerwen at the Flanders Darts Trophy a fortnight ago, and is hoping to repeat the feat when he takes on the three-time world champion on Sunday afternoon.
“I’ve been playing really good darts in the last few weeks,” reflected Clemens, who is still battling to secure qualification for next month’s World Grand Prix.
“I know I can beat the top players, and at the moment, Luke is the best player in the world, so this fills me with confidence.”
Elsewhere, Dekker landed the day’s first nine-darter during his second-round clash against Stephen Bunting, delivering the moment of magic in the penultimate leg of his 6-2 defeat.
The Norwegian celebrated his maiden European Tour victory on Friday, before etching his name into the history books against Bunting, who ran out a convincing winner despite Dekker’s brilliance.
Reigning champion Dave Chisnall began his bid for back-to-back European Tour titles with a crushing 6-1 victory over Jonny Clayton, reeling off six consecutive legs to triumph with a 100.94 average.
Wessel Nijman captured four consecutive legs from 5-2 down to snatch victory over Gerwyn Price, following up a 13-darter with 141, 107 and 71 finishes to inflict another early European Tour exit on the Welshman.
Peter Wright maintained his fine form with a whitewash win over Damon Heta, capitalising on a below-par display from the Australian No 1 to canter through to round three in quickfire fashion.
Birthday boy Rob Cross rounded off Saturday’s second-round action with a 6-1 demolition of Andrew Gilding, crashing in four 180s to set up a third-round showdown against sixth seed Josh Rock.
2024 Hungarian Darts Trophy, second round afternoon session
Ricardo Pietreczko 6-5 Niels Zonneveld
Gian van Veen 6-4 Keane Barry
Ryan Searle 6-1 Alberto Bezjian
Daryl Gurney 6-5 Florian Hempel
Stephen Bunting 6-2 Cor Dekker
Scott Williams 6-4 Chris Dobey
Martin Schindler 6-5 Jim Williams
Josh Rock 6-5 James Wade
Evening Session
Danny Noppert 6-4 Nathan Aspinall
Peter Wright 6-0 Damon Heta
Dave Chisnall 6-1 Jonny Clayton
Wessel Nijman 6-5 Gerwyn Price
Ross Smith 6-2 Raymond van Barneveld
Gabriel Clemens 6-5 Luke Humphries
Michael van Gerwen 6-2 Martin Lukeman
Rob Cross 6-1 Andrew Gilding
What’s next on Sky Sports?
The 2024 BoyleSports World Grand Prix is next on the Sky Sports darting calendar.
The annual £600,000 tournament will take place at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester from October 7-13, as 32 of the world’s top stars compete for the coveted title which was won by Luke Humphries.
Humphries celebrated his maiden TV ranking title with victory over Gerwyn Price in last year’s tournament, and the world No 1 will return to defend his title later this year.
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Luke Littler hit a pair of sensational back-to-back checkouts of 140 and 130 to take the lead on his way to claiming his maiden World Series of Darts Finals title in Amsterdam
Six-time champion Michael van Gerwen is also set to star, with teenage superstar Luke Littler poised to make his double-start debut in the East Midlands.
In a change to last year’s format, Saturday’s semi-finals on October 12 will be contested over the best of nine sets, with the final set to be played over the best of 11 sets on Sunday, October 13.
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