Michael van Gerwen continued his incredible run of success as he claimed his tenth tournament victory of 2013 with a superb defeat of Mervyn King in the Austrian Darts Open final.
The Dutch superstar began June as he ended May – in winning form – as he followed up his recent McCoy’s Premier League Darts, European Darts Open and Dubai Duty Free Darts Masters triumphs with a second successive £20,000 European Tour title.
Van Gerwen has now won five successive events, and is unbeaten in 24 games stretching back over four weeks as his unstoppable form saw him power through the field at the Arena Nova in Wiener Neustadt.
The 24-year-old had dropped only two legs in his early wins over Alan Tabern and Wayne Jones, and began Sunday’s final stages with a 6-3 defeat of Ronnie Baxter before defeating Brendan Dolan by the same scoreline in the quarter-finals.
He then saw off Colin Lloyd 6-2 in the semi-finals, hitting seven perfect darts for a second time in the day, before claiming a 6-3 win over King in the final – taking out finishes of 146 and 110 in picking up the £20,000 first prize.
“I’m very happy to have won this,” said van Gerwen. “It was a very difficult win because although I played well during the tournament, I didn’t play as well as I can.
“Sometimes that’s good as well because you know you can win when you’re not at your best, like I did in the final but it’s great to win another title.
“We both expected a great game because we had great semi-finals, but it didn’t happy in the final.”
The win sends van Gerwen into next weekend’s Speedy Services UK Open televised finals in Bolton as the tournament favourite, but he rejected suggestions from some pundits that he’s currently ‘unstoppable’.
“Unstoppable is a big word, but I know that even if I’m behind in a game I’m still confident enough to win it,” he added. “I like the format of the UK Open and I think this year I can do some damage there – I want to!
“I’ve not been brilliant in the UK Open but before the European Darts Open in Dusseldorf I didn’t have a great record in European Tour events either and I’m doing well in them now.”
King suffered defeat for a second time this year to van Gerwen in a final – following up a loss to the Dutchman in the eighth Speedy Services UK Open Qualifier in April – but took home £10,000 as runner-up.
He was pushed all the way by world number nine Dave Chisnall in his third round fixture on Sunday afternoon, but he whitewashed Joe Cullen in the quarter-finals before edging out Steve Beaton 6-5 in the semis.
“It’s been a great tournament but Michael was too strong for me in the final,” said King, who moves up to 13th in the PDC Order of Merit. “It’s a hard day because there’s four games on Sunday and Michael coped with it better than me.
“I started off really well today but each game got harder and harder, and with me getting older it took its toll. But I’m pleased to reach the final and I played some good stuff to get here, so I’m very happy.
“Michael’s on top of his game at the moment and he’s an awesome player. I enjoyed the tournament, which was fantastic, and the crowd were great too.”