Gabriel Clemens has fulfilled his mandatory task at the start of the Darts World Cup and can compete again in Alexandra Palace in London after Christmas.
Last year’s semi-finalist won 3-1 against outsider Man Lok Leung from Hong Kong and is now in the third round. After the Christmas holidays, we will play against English co-favorite Dave Chisnall, who also clearly won his opening match.
For the German Giant it was the return to the competition venue where he had defeated the then leader Gerwyn Price from Wales almost twelve months ago and thus secured the greatest success of his career. “It felt good. I wasn’t nervous, I prepared well. The game was a bit mixed, but I was there at just the right moments. That was good, that’s why I won,” said Clemens.
Clemens takes the first set with a 140 finish
In front of just over 3,000 fans – many of them from Germany – the favorite showed an overall performance that could be improved. With a finish of 140 points, Clemens won the first set. The game remained competitive, but Clemens showed better nerves in set four and prevailed.
The 40-year-old from Saarland is the first German professional in the third round of this World Cup. On Friday (8 p.m./Sport1 and DAZN) Florian Hempel and Martin Schindler have the chance to follow suit. Hempel meets Belgium star Dimitri van den Bergh.
Schindler is favorite against the Dutchman Jermaine Wattimena and would then face Scott Williams, who surprisingly won 3-0 against the Dutch world-class professional Danny Noppert. On Saturday, debutant Ricardo Pietreczko will face Englishman Callan Rydz.
