Andrew Gilding produced a nerveless performance to defeat Michael van Gerwen 11-10 and clinch his maiden televised title in a thrilling Cazoo UK Open final at Butlin\u2019s Minehead Resort on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Gilding, appearing in his first televised final, recovered from 9-7 adrift to deny Van Gerwen a fourth UK Open crown, surviving a match dart in a dramatic deciding leg to scoop the \u00a3110,000 top prize.<\/p>\n
The 52-year-old was beaten by Van Gerwen in the UK Open semi-finals back in 2015, but the Suffolk star avenged that defeat in style to lift the coveted title in front of a capacity crowd of 5,000 fans.<\/p>\n
Van Gerwen produced a sublime 135 finish on the bull to establish an early 2-0 lead in Sunday\u2019s showpiece, only for Gilding to reel off four consecutive legs to seize the initiative.<\/p>\n
The topsy-turvy nature of the contest continued as Van Gerwen replied with four straight legs of his own to regain control, converting a brilliant 130 checkout on the bull to restore his buffer at 6-4.<\/p>\n
Gilding hit back from 9-7 down to restore parity once again, but the three-time World Champion responded with a magnificent 170 checkout to move a leg away from glory.<\/p>\n
However, Gilding was unperturbed, pinning double 12 to force a last-leg decider, where he conjured up a brilliant 13-darter on tops to seal a famous victory, after Van Gerwen missed double 16 for the title.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t believe it,\u201d admitted Gilding, who had lost all six of his previous meetings against Van Gerwen.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t expect to win that game. I played steady all weekend, but I didn\u2019t feel like I played particularly brilliant darts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe crowd were absolutely amazing. I have been practising more, working hard and it\u2019s paying off. Now I\u2019ve got to win all of these major titles!\u201d<\/p>\n
Gilding\u2019s remarkable triumph catapults him into the world\u2019s top 25, and his exploits this weekend have also earned him a spot in November\u2019s Grand Slam of Darts.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the day, he breezed through to the semi-finals with a resounding 10-4 victory against Germany\u2019s number two Martin Schindler, matching his run to the last four in 2015.<\/p>\n
Gilding then overcame Czech youngster Adam Gawlas in the semi-finals, winning six of the last seven legs to complete a hard-fought 11-6 triumph.<\/p>\n
Van Gerwen, meanwhile, was left dejected after falling agonisingly short in his bid to claim a fourth UK Open crown, having looked imperious for much of the 158-player event.<\/p>\n
The 33-year-old opened his campaign with victory over Dave Chisnall on Friday, while also defeating his compatriot Martijn Kleermaker and 2021 runner-up Luke Humphries to reach the last eight.<\/p>\n
The Dutchman then registered wins over his Premier League rivals Nathan Aspinall and Dimitri Van den Bergh on Finals Day to secure a spot in Sunday\u2019s showpiece.<\/p>\n
Van Gerwen averaged 99 and landed nine 180s to defeat 2019 winner Aspinall 10-6 in the last eight, before defying 28 missed darts at double to celebrate a ninth straight victory against Van den Bergh in the semi-finals.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo play games like this are always difficult. Andrew had nothing to lose and I think he played really well,\u201d conceded Van Gerwen, who was forced to settle for the \u00a350,000 runner-up prize.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I made many mistakes and I know that, but I\u2019m the only one to blame and fair play to Andrew.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt this moment I can\u2019t find many positives. I\u2019m here to win tournaments and when you don\u2019t do that it\u2019s disappointing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is painful for me. It hurts. Everybody knows what I\u2019m like, but I will take it on the chin. Credit to Andrew. He had a phenomenal tournament.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gilding\u2019s heroics dominated the headlines on an extraordinary day in Minehead, but 21-year-old Gawlas also created his own slice of history in his quarter-final win over Rob Cross.<\/p>\n
The former World Youth finalist crashed in an incredible 12 maximums to celebrate a 10-8 success against 2019 runner-up Cross, which lifts him into the world\u2019s top 50 for the first time.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Sunday\u2019s other quarter-final tie saw Van den Bergh curtail Richie Burnett\u2019s fairy-tale run, converting 53% of his attempts at double to dispatch the veteran Welshman in emphatic style.<\/p>\n
2023 Cazoo UK Open Evening Session Final Andrew Gilding produced a nerveless performance to defeat Michael van Gerwen 11-10 and clinch his maiden televised title in a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5225,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[124],"tags":[],"lang":"en","translations":{"de":5227,"en":5224},"pll_sync_post":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pdc.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5224"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pdc.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pdc.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pdc.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pdc.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5224"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pdc.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5224\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5226,"href":"https:\/\/pdc.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5224\/revisions\/5226"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pdc.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pdc.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pdc.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pdc.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/strong>Sunday March 5
\n<\/strong>Afternoon Session
\n<\/strong>Quarter-Finals
\n<\/strong>Andrew Gilding 10-4 Martin Schindler
\nMichael van Gerwen 10-6 Nathan Aspinall
\nAdam Gawlas 10-8 Rob Cross
\nDimitri Van den Bergh 10-2 Richie Burnett<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Semi-Finals
\n<\/strong>Andrew Gilding 11-6 Adam Gawlas
\nMichael van Gerwen 11-6 Dimitri Van den Bergh<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Andrew Gilding 11-10 Michael van Gerwen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"