It was a case of so near, yet so far for Michael Smith again on the European Tour. 

The Unicorn man, who has already won this year's Gibraltar Darts Trophy, was beaten in the semi-finals of the European Darts Open in Germany. 

He has also lost a final and reached the quarter-finals on the Euro Tour this year to guarantee that he will be one of the top seeds for the European Championship later this year. 

The tournament in Leverkusen was won by Peter Wright, who beat Mervyn King 6-2 in the final. It was Wright's 4th Euro Tour victory of the year and his 9th tournament win of 2017. 

On Sunday, Smith best Daryl Gurney 6-3 then came from 3-4 down to see off Gerwyn Price 6-4 in the quarter-finals. He was edged out 6-4 by a resurgent King in the semi-finals. 

The thoughts of everyone at Team Unicorn are with Joe Cullen and his family. The Unicorn ace withdrew from Sunday's action after his father fell ill. He was due to play Mensur Suljovic. 

Team Unicorn pair Dimitri van den Bergh and Devon Petersen were beaten in the last 16 by Price and King respectively. 

In round two, a 161 finish wasn't enough for James Wade who lost 6-2 to Dave Chisnall. At the same stage Ian White and Kim Huybrechts were knocked out by King and John Henderson. 

Results - Q/Finals:

Mervyn King 6-2 Rob Cross
Michael Smith 6-4 Gerwyn Price
Peter Wright 6-1 Dave Chisnall 
Mensur Suljovic 6-4 John Henderson

S/Finals:

Mervyn King 6-4 Michael Smith
Peter Wright 6-3 Mensur Suljovic 

Final:

Peter Wright 6-2 Mervyn King

Report by STUART PYKE 


Photo courtesy Lawrence Lustig / PDC

Posted in Unicorn Darts