Kim Huybrechts will feel he missed a great opportunity at the Dutch Darts Masters.
The Unicorn ace has endured a tough run of form but made it through to the semi-finals in Zwolle before throwing away a lead to lose 7-5 to Irishman Steve Lennon
The tournament was won by Michael van Gerwen who claimed a fourth Euro Tour title of the year with an 8-5 victory over Lennon in the final.
In the last 16, the Belgian played superbly to beat Jermaine Wattimena in a last leg decider and again in the quarter-finals, he held his nerve to see off Peter Wright 6-5 after ‘Snakebite’ had missed four match darts.
But sadly Huybrechts saved his worst performance of the day for the semi-finals. He actually led 3-0 and 4-2 but faded and Lennon completed a 7-5 victory to reach his first European Tour Final.
It was his first semi-final appearance on the tour for three months and hopefully a much-needed confidence boost as he looks for a return to top form.
Van Gerwen survived match darts against Daryl Gurney in the semi-finals before delighting the home crowd yet again.
Unicorn star Kyle Anderson came from 4-1 down to beat Cameron Menzies in the last 16 but then came up against Van Gerwen in the semi’s. The Aussie came from 0-3 down to get within a leg, including hitting seven perfect darts in that 5th leg.
Dutch Darts Masters - Q/Finals:
Steve Lennon 6-3 Mensur Suljovic
Kim Huybrechts 6-5 Peter Wright
Daryl Gurney 6-2 Stephen Bunting
Michael van Gerwen 6-2 Kyle Anderson
S/Finals:
Steve Lennon 7-5 Kim Huybrechts
Michael van Gerwen 7-6 Daryl Gurney
Final:
Michael van Gerwen 8-5 Steve Lennon
Report from STUART PYKE
Image courtesy Lawrence Lustig / PDC
