PDC World Championship

The 30th edition of the PDC World Darts Championship was held at the Alexandra Palace in London from December 15, 2022 to January 3, 2023. Michael Smith is crowned world champion for the first time by defeating Michael van Gerwen in the final.
 
Just like last year, 96 players are competing for the title: 93 men and 3 women. For the first time, three ladies will participate in the PDC World Championship: Lisa Ashton, Fallon Sherrock and eighteen-year-old Beau Greaves who will make her debut. She will face William O'Connor in the first round. Despite a few nice finishes (including 122), she loses 3-0 to the Irishman. Ashton fought back from a 2-0 deficit against Ryan Meikle, but eventually lost 3-2. The last female asset, Sherrock plays against Ricky Evans. The Englishman comes on stage dressed as Santa Claus, but has a hard time against 'The Queen of the Palace'. In the end, Sherrock fails to hit her doubles at the crucial moments, allowing her to go home with a 3-1 defeat.
 
The top 32 in the world will compete in the second round. Of those 32 seeded players, 29 manage to reach the next round. Only Daryl Gurney, Callan Rydz and James Wade fail to qualify for the third round. That means Jim Williams, Alan Soutar and Josh Rock are the only unseeded players in the last 32. Simon Whitlock loses 3-2 to Jose de Sousa as an unseeded player, after the Portuguese has cleared a 2-0 deficit. Americans Danny Baggish and Leonard Gates play a strong first round, but lose in round 2 to Mervyn King (3-2) and Stephen Bunting (3-1). In the second round, only Michael van Gerwen (101.84) and Ross Smith (100.97) throw an average of over a hundred. In the first round, only Scott Williams (100.32) and Ryan Joyce (103.04) managed this. Unfortunately for Joyce, his tournament is immediately over, as he loses 3-1 to Williams.
 
With the last 32 the level goes up a lot. Gerwyn Price wins 4-0 against Raymond van Barneveld, while Jose de Sousa makes another great comeback. He is 3-0 behind against Ryan Searle, but 'The Special One' still manages to win the game 4-3. Danny Noppert loses 4-2 to Alan Soutar after a 2-0 lead, while Vincent van der Voort narrowly loses to Luke Humphries (4-3) after an exciting match. The match between Dirk van Duijvenbode and Ross Smith will only be decided in the eleventh leg of the seventh set. After Smith has missed a total of five match darts, it is Van Duijvenbode who hits his first match dart for the 4-3 victory. Title holder Peter Wright is surprisingly down 4-1 against Kim Huybrechts and compatriot Gary Anderson loses with the same numbers to Chris Dobey. Also surprising is Gabriel Clemens. The German fights a great battle with Jim Williams and eventually advances to the last sixteen with a 4-3 victory.
 
The last sixteen is dominated by the Belgian 'clash' between Dimitri van den Bergh and Kim Huybrechts. Ultimately, Huybrechts is no match for his fellow countryman and loses by a large margin (4-0). Stephen Bunting is responsible for the elimination of fifth seed Luke Humphries (4-1) and Gabriel Clemens reaches the quarter-finals for the first time thanks to a 4-1 win over Alan Soutar. The most beautiful match is the meeting between Jonny Clayton and Josh Rock. The Northern Irish debutant plays a strong game, but in the end it is Clayton who manages to conquer a place in the last eight for the first time thanks to a 4-3 victory. Former world champion Rob Cross is in good form, but loses 4-2 to Chris Dobey in the last sixteen.
 
There are a few exciting matches in the quarterfinals. Dimitri van den Bergh is the first Belgian ever to qualify for the semi-finals, because he is too strong for Jonny Clayton (5-3). In the decisive moments, Clayton is the lesser in scoring, making the quarter-finals his destination. Besides the first Belgian player in the semi-finals, we also get a German player in the semi-finals for the first time: Gabriel Clemens plays an excellent match against Gerwyn Price and beats the first-seeded Welshman 5-1. Price, who is being booed by the crowd during the game, decides to play a part of the game with headphones. However, it does not help him, because he loses in the quarter-finals and with it his number 1 position in the world ranking.
 
Gabriel Clemens and Dimitri van den Bergh are already making history for their countries Germany and Belgium, but both men fail to reach their first ever World Championship final. In the semi-finals, Clemens initially managed to show strong play, but in the end it was opponent Michael Smith who won the match 6-2 and reached the final for the second year in a row. In that final he will meet Michael van Gerwen. The Dutchman plays his best match of the tournament (108.28 average) and leaves Van den Bergh without a chance 6-0.
 
The final will therefore be between Michael Smith and Michael van Gerwen, just like in 2019. But how did these men end up in the final? Smith starts the tournament as the number four in the world and manages to beat Nathan Rafferty 3-0 in his first game. A round later it is almost an exit for Smith, but after a 3-1 deficit, 'Bully Boy' still manages to win 4-3 against Martin Schindler. If he then beats Joe Cullen 4-1, he will play a mediocre match against Stephen Bunting in the quarter-finals. Still, Smith manages to win 5-3, after which he records a 6-2 victory over Gabriel Clemens in the semi-finals with strong play.
 
Michael van Gerwen is the number three in the world ranking and will meet Lewy Williams in his first match. The Welshman has dealt with Niels Zonneveld in the first round, but is unable to stunt against the three-time world champion (3-0). A round later, Van Gerwen beats Mensur Suljovic with an average of 107.66, but the Austrian knows how to show nice things at times (4-2). Van Gerwen will meet compatriot Dirk van Duijvenbode in the last sixteen. Everyone expects a great match, but overcome by the tension, 'The Titan' never manages to make it into a match. 'Mighty Mike' wins 4-1 and will play in the quarterfinals against Chris Dobey. Another opponent who is impressed by the circumstances, as Dobey only manages to win three legs in the entire match and loses 5-0 without a chance. Van Gerwen is in top form and shows that with a convincing 6-0 win against Dimitri van den Bergh.
 
The final between Michael Smith and Michael van Gerwen is the final between the three-time world champion and the two-time losing finalist. Looking at the year 2022, these have also turned out to be the best players of the darts year. It is Smith who can start the final, but Van Gerwen immediately takes the first set. But Smith knows how to hit back hard in the second set: with a 1-1 score in the second set, he throws a nine-dart finish, after Van Gerwen missed the double twelve in the same leg to throw a nine-dart finish himself. It is the prelude to a fantastic final. Smith takes a 2-1 lead in sets, but then sees Van Gerwen take a 3-2 lead. After Van Gerwen takes a 2-0 lead in the sixth set, it is still Smith who manages to make it 3-3 in sets. From that moment on, the Englishman dictates the match: he takes three more sets in a row and is then only one set away from the title. Van Gerwen just takes the tenth set 3-2 and takes a 2-0 lead a set later. But again he loses that big lead in a set, so that Michael Smith wins the eleventh set by throwing the double eight and can therefore call himself world champion for the first time in his career. For Michael van Gerwen, the counter remains at three world titles.