FOUR-SOME VAN GERWEN RETAINS DUTCH DARTS MASTERS TITLE
MICHAEL VAN GERWEN won his fourth successive PDC European Tour event of 2015 with an incredible display to claim the Dutch Darts Masters title in Venray, ruthlessly whitewashing Justin Pipe in the final.
Van Gerwen has been in imperious form throughout the PDC's three previous 48-player, 115,000 pound European Tour events so far this year with wins in Hildesheim, Gibraltar and Germany.
He extended his winning streak on the European Tour to four tournaments - and 20 matches - as he retained the Dutch Darts Masters title in front of almost 5,000 fans at the Evenementenhal in Venray.
Despite posting some huge averages, van Gerwen hadn't enjoyed comfortable passage to the final on a high-quality day of darts in Venray.
Dave Chisnall had fired in a 167 finish during his 6-3 third round loss in the afternoon session, before van Gerwen bettered that with a 170 checkout in the deciding leg of his quarter-final with Mervyn King.
The world number one was also taken to a deciding leg in the semis by Terry Jenkins, who opened the 11th leg with two 180s but missed a dart at tops for victory before van Gerwen posted double four to move into the final.
He would waste little more time in wrapping up victory in the tournament, needing only 15 minutes to complete a whitewash win over Pipe, whose chances were limited as van Gerwen powered to victory.
He finished 64 to claim the opener before following a 13-darter with an 11-dart leg to move 3-0 up, before double ten and double eight moved him five legs clear and another double ten finish - for a 14-darter - completed the win.
Van Gerwen's victory follows last week's win in the Dubai Duty Free Darts Masters, and also provides the ideal warm-up for his defence of the bwin World Cup of Darts pairs title with Raymond van Barneveld in Frankfurt next weekend.
"It feels amazing," said van Gerwen. "To win in Holland is very special for me because this is the only event here this year, and there was lots of pressure in front of my own fans and wanting to win this title again. This crowd made it quite easy because they were superb all the way through the event. I played some fantastic darts and I'm really enjoying my darts at the moment - and I want to keep this going now. This is the fourth European Tour event in a row for me and I hope I can add the fifth on in two weeks' time in Riesa."
Pipe's run to the final was his best display since he won a Players Championship in Dublin in October last year, and though he missed out on claiming a second European Tour title, he picked up 10,000 pound as the runner-up in Venray.
The former Austrian Darts Open champion defeated young duo Nathan Aspinall and Josh Payne as he won through to the semi-finals, and recorded a third 6-4 win of the day as he overcame Jamie Caven in the last four.
"Michael was the best player in the tournament and showed why he's the best player in the world," said Pipe. "I scraped through and wasn't at my best but you can't live with Michael when he's like that."
Jenkins had earlier edged out Australian ace Kyle Anderson 6-5 in the quarter-finals as he reached the last four alongside Caven, who knocked out former Dutch Darts Masters winner Kim Huybrechts 6-2 in the quarter-finals.
Kent youngster Payne had reached the last eight in a European Tour event for the first time with his success in Venray, while Anderson's run improved his chances of snatching qualification for next month's BetVictor World Matchplay.
King was also a narrow quarter-final loser as he was edged out by van Gerwen in a repeat of last year's final of the event.