Michael Smith, Gary Anderson and Kim Huybrechts (pictured) are in the top 10 heading to Minehead for the UK Open Finals next month.
After the final three qualifiers at Wigan at the weekend, Smith is the No.2 seed behind Michael van Gerwen after a superb set of qualifying events from the Unicorn man.
Anderson is the 6th seed after his brilliant victory in qualifier 4 on Friday, while Huybrechts will be the 9th seed after a consistent run through all six qualifying events. The Belgian reached the semi-finals of qualifier 5 on Friday.
He lost to Australian starlet Corey Cadby 6-1 as Cadby went on to claim his first big senior PDC title. He came from 1-5 down to beat Rob Cross 6-5 in the final. Cadby had also knocked out Smith in the quarter-finals on Saturday 6-3, despite a 108 average from the St Helens star!
Krzysztof Ratajski became the first Polish winner of a PDC title in Sunday’s final qualifying event. He saw off Daryl Gurney 6-4 in the final.
The top 10 seeds are:
1 - Michael van Gerwen
2 - Michael Smith
3 - Krzysztof Ratajski
4 - Corey Cadby
5 - Rob Cross
6 - Gary Anderson
7 - Peter Wright
8 - Daryl Gurney
9 - Kim Huybrechts
10- Jeffrey de Zwaan
The top 32 are all guaranteed a bye through to the 3rd Round at Minehead. And that means James Wade, Jelle Klaasen and Kyle Anderson all automatically got through to that stage. The Unicorn trio will he seeded 20, 22 and 32 respectively. Unicorn new boy Klaasen got through to the quarter-finals on Saturday in Wigan before losing to Wright.
Four Team Unicorn players come into the UK Open Finals in round two....Joe Cullen, Keegan Brown, Chris Dobey and Ted Evetts, who got through to the last 16 on Sunday to guarantee qualification. He lost to a resurgent Rob Cross but found himself level with Austrian Michael Rasztovits for that 64th spot. That meant a play-off which Evetts won 6-1.
Unicon youngsters Dimitri Van den Bergh and Adam Hunt also made it through and will start in the 1st Round, but Hunt had to hold his nerve to qualify. Only the top 96 made it through and he was right on the cut-off. Hunt did brilliantly as he won three play-off games beating Kevin Garcia, Jeff Smith and George Killington to make it to Minehead.
Unfortunately, five Unicorn players failed to qualify for the finals.....Jamie Caven, Devon Petersen, Ronny Huybrechts, Nico Blum and Madars Razma.
By STUART PYKE
Photo courtesy PDC
