Austrian Darts Trophy
Quarter Finals
Jamie Caven produced another fine performance as he stunned Phil
Taylor by clinching their quarter final encounter in a deciding leg
thriller.
Peter Wright and Wes Newton also needed all eleven legs to settle their
encounter, with the Scotsman eventually clinching the victory to set up
a semi-final encounter with Caven.
Meanwhile in the opposite half of the draw, Mensur Suljovic kept the
Austrian crowd entertained as he reached his first ever European Tour
semi-final thanks to a 6-2 victory over Andy Smith.
Vincent van der Voort completed the semi-final line-up thanks to a
6-2 victory over John Part, the Dutchman setting up an all non-seeded
encounter with Suljovic.
Photo: PDC/Lawrence Lustig
Semi-Finals
Mensur Suljovic’s hopes of a victory on home soil were ended by an
increasingly impressive Vincent van der Voort. The Dutchman had
played some fine darts throughout the day, but none more so than
those he produced in the semi-final as he overcame the Austrian 6-3.
The second semi-final was a much closer encounter, with Jamie Caven
and Peter Wright needing all eleven legs to settle their encounter. In
the end it was the lower ranked Caven who produced the goods in the
decisive leg, setting up a tantalising final with van der Voort.
Final
The early stages were close as van der Voort and Caven shared the
opening four legs, with Caven finishing double six and 111 to hold throw,
while van der Voort posted a 12-darter in leg two and hit another 180
and an 88 finish to level.
Caven posted double 12 to win the fifth and landed scores of 180 and
177 in an 11-darter to break, before hitting another maximum as he
moved 5-2 up - punishing an error from van der Voort for the second
time in the game as the Dutchman paid for missing a single number to
leave a double.
Van der Voort, though, fired his comeback with double 16 in the eighth
leg before taking out tops to pull back to 5-4, and a brilliant 136
checkout took the game into a decider.
With the momentum, van der Voort was first to a finish and took out 83
on double eight to claim his first European Tour win, as he celebrated
with a dance across the stage at the Salzburg Arena.
Ironically, van der Voort’s last ranking title had come three years ago in
Austria in a Players Championship, with the Dutch star having slipped
“At 5-2 up in the
final I thought
Vincent would
have to do
something extra
special, and
Vincent’s finishing
was superb in the
last few legs”
Jamie Caven