World Matchplay Darts: Dimitri Van den Bergh and Michael van Gerwen to meet in semi-finals
- Published
Dimitri Van den Bergh and Michael van Gerwen will meet on Saturday night
Dimitri Van den Bergh and Michael van Gerwen will meet in the World Matchplay semi-finals at Blackpool's Winter Gardens.
Belgian Van den Bergh knocked out the Matchplay and world champion Peter Wright 16-14 in a spectacular quarter-final match.
Dutchman Van Gerwen beat England's Nathan Aspinall 16-14.
They pair will meet in Saturday's semi-final while the second pair of quarter-finals take place on Friday.
Wales' world number two Gerwyn Price takes on Portugal's Jose de Sousa before Dirk van Duijvenbode and Danny Noppert face each other in an all-Dutch affair.
Scotland's Wright and Van den Bergh are great friends with the Belgian staying at Wright's family home in Suffolk during the height of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020
Their encounter was a repeat of last year's final and it was a topsy-turvy affair, with Wright, 52, flying into a 5-1 lead.
Ninth seed Van den Bergh, 28, then produced an astonishing comeback to win 10 consecutive legs to go 11-5 up.
Wright, sporting a green Mohican haircut, reduced the deficit to 12-7 and then won six legs on the bounce to go back into the lead, but Van Den Bergh kept his cool in the end to clinch victory.
"It was a deep game with big finishes under pressure, it was such an incredible game," said Van den Bergh. "I'm so happy, I worked hard and kept digging in.
"I've got one day to get ready but right now it's back to business, I still feel like I haven't showed my A-game and I can do better in the longer run but today it was one of the hardest games I had to win and I've done it."
In the other quarter-final of the night, the two-time champion Van Gerwen, 33, opened up an 11-4 lead and looked to be in control before Englishman Aspinall battled his way back into the match and closed the gap to 14-10 with a superb 164 bullseye checkout.
Apsinall, 31, took out another bullseye checkout and took advantage of three missed match darts by Van Gerwen to break in the 29th leg to reduce the deficit to 15-14.
The Premier League champion van Gerwen broke straight back with a 146 checkout to win the match and make his sixth semi-final appearance in this tournament.
"I was under huge amount of pressure but to manage to hit a finish like the 146 to win the match gives me an incredible feeling," said van Gerwen.
"Dimi [Van den Bergh] is a phenomenal player and I need to prepare myself for the worst because he can play darts so I need to keep my focus going."