On Saturday evening the quarter finals of the 2020 Unibet European Darts Championship took place at the König-Pilsener-ARENA in Oberhausen. After a couple of upsets over the last two days, World Champion Peter Wright was the only remaining player from the top 10 of the world. So the fans at the “Köpi-Arena”, which was almost sold out under the current circumstances, could look forward to exciting matches in the round of the last eight.
The world champion did justice to his role as favorite in his match against Steve West and put in the performance of the evening! “Snakebite” averaged more than 104 and won the match 10:6. But Steve West deserves credit for keeping the match open for a long time and giving the world champion a run for his money. “During my short break I made little changes to my stance, so my darts go into the board a bit more straight. That is now paying off,” said Peter Wright in his post-match interview with ITV.
Wright’s performance was only topped by one player: Devon Petersen defeated Ian White in the last game of the evening with an absolute world-class performance! Petersen’s great form of the last months continues. The “African Warrior” averaged 106.3 and ran away from Diamond especially in the last phase of the match when he won five Legs in a row to win 10:6. Prior to that, White was able to keep the match balanced despite a significantly lower average. “I am really very satisfied at the moment. I feel comfortable on stage and have great confidence in my game,” said the South African after his victory.
The first quarterfinal of the evening was a rather one-sided affair. The 2018 European Darts Champion, James Wade, showed why he has been in the top 16 of the world for many years. The Englishman put in a vintage performance and dominated over the majority of the game. After the first session Wade was in front by 4:1 and was able to extend his lead to 7:3 over the next five legs. In the end, the Englishman had an average of almost 99 and a double percentage of over 60%. O’Connor had little to oppose this and Wade marched on to a 10-4 victory. “It was not a great performance, but it was very solid. I’m happy,” said The Machine after reaching the semi-finals.
In the second game one of the rising darts stars of the last months could not continue his good run of form. Dirk van Duijvenbode never found his A game against Jonny Clayton and had to admit defeat clearly by 4:10. An average of 88 points was enough for “The Ferret” from Wales to control the match, with both players having problems on the doubles (double percentage of less than 30% each). “We both struggled a bit. The audience was in a good mood today and you’re not really used to that anymore. It was great,” said a happy Jonny Clayton after the game. This is the Welshman`s third semi-final of a televised event.
Unibet European Darts Championship 2020, Saturday, quarter finals
William O`Connor 4:10 James Wade
Jonny Clayton 10:4 Dirk van Duijvenbode
Peter Wright 10:6 Steve West
Devon Petersen 10:6 Ian White
This results in the following semi-final pairings and this possible final match on Sunday evening:
James Wade – Devon Petersen
Peter Wright – Jonny Clayton
FINAL
Wade/ Petersen – Wright/ Clayton
