Michael van Gerwen took victory in a fifth Speedy Services UK Open Qualifier in eight events this year by whitewashing Mervyn King in just 10 minutes in last night’s final.
The Dutch star’s domination of the qualifying tournaments for June’s UK Open in Bolton saw him pick up another £6,000 title, taking his winnings across the eight Qualifiers to £35,600!
Van Gerwen also took the title in style, defeating Northern Ireland’s Daryl Gurney, Dutchman Jerry Hendriks, English youngster Chris Aubrey, Germany’s Bernd Roith and Canada’s Ken MacNeil for the loss of only 11 legs as he reached the quarter-finals.
There, he edged past Ronnie Baxter 6-4 before coming from 5-2 down in the semi-finals to defeat Adrian Lewis in a deciding leg, with the two-time World Champion being punished for four missed match darts in the game’s eighth leg.
Van Gerwen then swept to a whitewash victory in the final as he saw off King in only 10 minutes and 38 seconds.
Having opened the final with a 74 finish, he punished two missed doubles from King in the second to break in 13 darts on tops, and followed up a 180 with double ten to move 3-0 up.
He added further maximums in the next two legs as he took a 5-0 cushion before landing two 180s in the sixth leg, and when King missed a dart at double 16 to keep his hopes alive van Gerwen secured another triumph by hitting double four.
King’s performance on the day, which earns him £3,000, was his best on the circuit since he reached the PartyPoker.com World Grand Prix final last October – when van Gerwen again denied him a title.
He saw off McCoy’s Premier League Darts stars James Wade, Wes Newton and Robert Thornton on the day, as well as defeating Connie Finnan, Steve Brown, Dave Place and Jason Hogg on his way to the decider.
Hogg’s semi-final appearance was his best-ever on the PDC circuit since he turned professional at Qualifying School in January, and followed his run to the last eight 24 hours earlier.
Lewis reached the semi-finals for the second time in 2013 in a fine day which saw him pick up wins over Brett Claydon, Vincent van der Voort, Simon Whitlock, Kevin Thomas, Mark Dudbridge and Matthew Edgar before being punished for missing four match darts against van Gerwen.
Matthew Edgar won through to the quarter-finals for the first time on the PDC ProTour, and he was joined in the last eight by Baxter, Thornton and Brendan Dolan.
Bristol’s Andy Parsons, a newcomer to the PDC in 2013, capped off a weekend which also saw him qualify for the European Darts Open event by reaching the Last 16 to earn himself a UK Open debut in Bolton in June.
Runs to the same stage for Mark Dudbridge, Antonio Alcinas and Steve Farmer saw them secure UK Open places in the last of the eight qualifiers, with World Youth Champion James Hubbard and Dean Winstanley both also winning through to Bolton with their displays on Sunday.
The top 96 players, plus ties on £600, from the final UK Open Order of Merit now progress to play in the Speedy Services UK Open Televised Finals in Bolton from June 6-9, alongside the 32 Speedy Amateur Qualifiers.
Denis Ovens, a semi-final in the UK Open for the last three years, was the highest profile player to miss out on qualification for Bolton, while four-time champion Phil Taylor will come in at the second round stage on Thursday June 6.
Two-time UK Open champion James Wade, 2004 winner Roland Scholten, former finalists Vincent van der Voort and Colin Osborne and world number nine Justin Pipe will all enter in the first round, where they are drawn alongside the amateurs in ‘The FA Cup of Darts’.