Damon Heta is among the leading names to be through already to the third round at the Players Championship Finals after seeing off Kevin Doets as Stephen Bunting and Dimitri van den Bergh also starred.
Up to three times, Doets took a break lead against “The Heat,” including after a fine 99 finish in the seventh leg. However, Doets did not capitalize on the break and was broken again after a 13-darter by Heta. Doets had chances in the tenth leg to force a deciding leg, but he missed five chances at 5-5. Heta then finished it off with a 20-darter.
Gian van Veen came up against a rock-solid Stephen Bunting, who posted an average of 105.66 and a finishing percentage of 60 percent. The Dutchman could not withstand that and the win went 6-1 to the Englishman.
Tournament Centre Players Championship Finals 2023: Game schedule, all results, TV Guide and prize money breakdown
Like alluded to, Dimitri van den Bergh also won through. He had an exciting match with two-time world champion Gary Anderson. An important moment in that match was the eighth leg, in which Van den Bergh missed two chances to cash in on his break. Instead of 5-3 it became 4-4, after which Van den Bergh held twice to win the match 6-5.
Mario Vandenbogaerde recorded a victory over Matt Campbell. ‘Super Mario’ took the first three legs of the game after, among other things, a 110 finish and a 13-darter. Campbell brought the deficit back to 2-4 by throwing out 122 and 157, but then again struggled to find the treble. This allowed Vandenbogaerde to put a 6-2 final score on the scoreboard with two 18-darters.
