Michael van Gerwen beats Nathan Aspinall 11-4 in the final at AFAS Live in Amsterdam to win his fifth World Series of Darts title; “The biggest challenge for me was the pressure of playing in front of the home crowd, but they have been absolutely fantastic,” van Gerwen said
Michael van Gerwen won his fifth World Series of Darts title in front of his home crowd in Amsterdam.
The three-time world champion beat Nathan Aspinall in their final.
Van Gerwen saw off Aspinall 11-4 in the final at AFAS Live.
Aspinall stayed in touch at the first interval, landing a brilliant double-double 86 finish after van Gerwen missed two darts at tops for a 4-1 lead.
However, van Gerwen took four of the next five legs to stretch his advantage to 7-3, firing in a brace of 14-darters and a spectacular 160 checkout.
Van Gerwen extended his winning run to five straight legs. Though Aspinall stalled him for a moment in leg 14, the home favourite wrapped up victory with a clinical two-dart 63 combination.
Previously this tournament’s champion in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2019, van Gerwen delighted the Amsterdam crowd with the triumph.
“The most important thing for me is to win another title on stage,” said van Gerwen, who won World Series events in New York and Poland earlier this year to seal his spot in the season-ending finals.
“You always want to perform well, and to do it in front of your home crowd, it gives you such a good feeling.
“I think the biggest challenge for me was the pressure of playing in front of the home crowd, but they have been absolutely fantastic this weekend.”
His victory in the final came after he had earlier defeated Dimitri van den Bergh 10-8, then produced an 11-10 last-four victory over Luke Humphries featuring a sensational nine-darter, the first in the history of the finals.
Aspinall had got past Keegan Brown 10-5 and then Peter Wright 11-9 in the semis.
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