It wasn’t to be for Dimitri van den Bergh.

The Unicorn youngster was beaten 16-9 in the Grand Slam quarter-finals by Mensur Suljovic on Friday night.

But it has still been an amazing week for the 24-year-old Belgian who showed yet again that he is going to have a big say in the world of darts for many years to come.

And of course he has that history making 9-darter in the bank, another quarter-final in a TV ‘Major’ and so much to look forward to.

Yes, he was desperately disappointed afterwards, but when he looks back he will know just how good he has been in Wolverhampton.

It was always going to be tough after Suljovic got off to a flyer winning the first three legs including a blistering 167 finish.

Van den Bergh got on the board with a brilliant 144 check-out but a superb five leg spell from Suljovic when he averaged 110 saw the Austrian lead 8-3. In truth, the way that Suljovic was playing, there was no way back from that.

He kept pressurising Van den Bergh throughout and his finishing was exceptional. Suljovic banged in three 180s in four legs and took out 101 and 81 to further take control.

Dimitri trailed 5-10 and had only managed to hold throw twice to that point. He managed to win the 16th leg but crucially, missed darts to win the next two and that was that.

Suljovic took his 180 tally to seven as he won with a near 100 average.

Van den Bergh is going to be a big darts star. He will get over this and more success isn’t far away.

Suljovic will face Gerwyn Price in the semi-finals after the Welshman beat Simon Whitlock 16-15 in a Grand Slam thriller. The Australian missed five match darts and when Price hit the winning D12 in the 31st leg, it was the first time he was in front in the entire game!

Q/Final results:

Mensur Suljovic 16-9 Dimitri van den Bergh

Gerwyn Price 16-15 Simon Whitlock

Report from STUART PYKE in Wolverhampton

Image courtesy Lawrence Lustig / PDC

Posted in Unicorn Darts