Dimitri Van den Bergh

Dimitri Van den Bergh (born 8 July 1994) is a Belgian darts player who currently competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He is a two-time World Youth Champion and the current World Matchplay champion, after beating Gary Anderson 18–10 in the final, in his first time competing in the Matchplay.

Dimitri Van den Bergh
Personal information
Nickname"The DreamMaker"
Born (1994-07-08) 8 July 1994
Antwerp, Belgium
Home townMerksem, Belgium
Darts information
LateralityRight-handed
Walk-on music"Happy" by Pharrell Williams
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO2012–2013
PDC2013–
Current world ranking10 1 (3 January 2021)[1]
BDO majors – best performances
World MastersLast 272: 2013
PDC premier events – best performances
World Ch'shipQuarter Final: 2018, 2020
World MatchplayWinner (1): 2020
World Grand PrixLast 16: 2020
Grand SlamSemi Final: 2020
Premier LeagueLeague stage: 2021
European Ch'shipLast 32: 2017, 2019
UK OpenQuarter Final: 2020
Players Ch'ship FinalsLast 32: 2016
MastersLast 24: 2021
Other tournament wins
British Teenage Open 2013
Hemeco Open Rosmalen 2016
PDC Challenge Tour England 2013
PDC Development Tour 2014 (x3), 2015 (x2)
2016, 2017, 2018 (x2)
PDC World Youth Championship 2017, 2018
Other achievements
2016 Breaks into the top 64 on the PDC Order of Merit for the first time

2018 Hits first televised nine-dart leg at 2018 Grand Slam of Darts against Stephen Bunting[2]

2020 Wins first ranked PDC premier title. Moves into top 16 on the PDC Order of Merit for the first time

Career

BDO

In 2013, Van den Bergh won the British Teenage Open by beating Billy Longshaw 3–0 in the final.[3] Two months later he claimed the 16th PDC Challenge Tour event of the year by whitewashing Reece Robinson 4–0.[4]

PDC

In 2014, he entered Q School in an attempt to earn a PDC tour card, but he couldn't advance beyond the last 64 in any of the four days. However, he was granted PDPA Associate Member status for participating which gave him entry into UK Open and European tour qualifiers.[5] Van den Bergh qualified for the first European Tour event, the German Darts Championship and lost 6–2 in the first round against Ronnie Baxter despite averaging 102.94.[6] Van den Bergh won three youth tour titles during the year and also reached the last 16 of the Under-21 World Championship, where he lost 6–3 to Robinson.[7] He finished top of the Youth Tour Order of Merit which earned him a two-year card for the main PDC tour.[8]

Van den Bergh claimed two Development Tour titles in 2015.[9] He reached the last 16 of a PDC event for the first time at the third Players Championship event, but lost 6–5 to Mensur Suljović.[10] Van den Bergh was also knocked out in the second round of three European Tour events.[9] He qualified for the inaugural World Series of Darts Finals but was beaten 6–3 by Max Hopp in the first round in what was Van den Bergh's televised debut.[11][12]

He qualified for the 2016 World Championship through the European Pro Tour Order of Merit and danced on to the stage before his first round encounter with Ian White.[13] Van den Bergh missed four darts for the first set, but went on to win 3–1 taking out four ton-plus finishes during the match.[14] He lost 4–2 to Benito van de Pas in the following round.[15] Van den Bergh won the 14th Development Tour event by overcoming Steve Lennon 4–2.[16] At the 15th Players Championship tournament Van den Bergh reached the semi-finals of a main tour event for the first time with wins over Devon Petersen, Jan Dekker, Ronny Huybrechts, Chris Dobey and Cristo Reyes, but he lost 6–2 to Michael van Gerwen.[17] In the semi-finals of the World Youth Championship, Van den Bergh was beaten 6–3 by Corey Cadby.[18] He won a place at the Grand Slam by coming through the qualifying event and edged his first group match 5–4 over Gerwyn Price.[19] Van den Bergh was then beaten 5–4 by Robert Thornton, but after defeating Scott Waites 5–4 in the final group game it meant he was tied with Thornton on points and leg difference. This meant a nine-dart shoot-out was required to decide who would advance to the knock-out stage and Thornton won by 345 points to 340.[20]

Van den Bergh's first round match at the 2017 World Championship went to a deciding set and was on throw, but he missed two darts at double eight to send it to a tie-break, allowing Cristo Reyes to step in and win 3–2.[21] At the end of the year, Van den Bergh became World Youth Champion by defeating Josh Payne 6–3 in the final. He would defend his title the following year by defeating Germany's Martin Schindler in the final.

Van den Bergh's debut in the World Series of Darts came with a stellar performance in the 2018 German Darts Masters where he lost in the final to Mensur Suljović 2–8 after defeating Michael van Gerwen 8–3 in the quarter-final and Gary Anderson 8–7 in the semi-final.[22]

Following Gary Anderson's withdrawal from the 2019 Premier League, Van den Bergh was selected as one of nine 'contenders' to replace him. He would play a one-off match against James Wade on night eight in Rotterdam, recording a 6–6 draw. Van den Bergh reached two Players Championship finals, but lost in both to Glen Durrant and Krzysztof Ratajski respectively. Later in the year, he would qualify for the World Grand Prix for the first time, but he let a 1–0 lead slip and eventually lost 2–1 to Mervyn King. In the 2020 PDC World Darts Championship, Van den Bergh scored high averages in defeating Josh Payne, Luke Woodhouse and Adrian Lewis, before losing to Nathan Aspinall in the quarter-finals.

At the beginning of 2020, Van den Bergh reached the quarter-finals of the UK Open before succumbing to Gerwyn Price. Then, after spending the whole first COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in the UK, staying at Peter Wright's house, Van den Bergh pulled off the biggest achievement of his career by winning the 2020 World Matchplay on his debut, after defeating Nathan Aspinall, Joe Cullen, Adrian Lewis, Glen Durrant and Gary Anderson to win the £115,000 top prize, and move him into the Top 10 in the world for the first time.

World Championship performances

PDC

Career finals

PDC major finals: 1 (1 title)
Legend
World Matchplay (1–0)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score[N 1]
Winner 1. 2020 World Matchplay Gary Anderson 18–10 (l)

PDC World Series finals: 1 (1 runner-up)
Legend
World Series of Darts (0–1)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score[N 1]
Runner-up 1. 2018 German Darts Masters Mensur Suljović 2–8 (l)
  1. (l) = score in legs, (s) = score in sets.

Performance timeline
Tournament2015201620172018201920202021
PDC World Championship DNQ 2R 1R QF 3R QF 4R
UK Open Did not qualify 1R 6R QF
World Matchplay Did not qualify W
World Grand Prix Did not qualify 1R 2R
European Championship DNQ 1R DNQ 1R DNQ
Grand Slam of Darts DNQ RR DNQ QF RR SF
Players Championship Finals DNQ 2R DNQ 1R 1R 1R
Non-major televised events
Masters DNQ 1R
PDC World Cup of Darts Did not play SF QF SF
World Series of Darts Finals 1R DNQ QF 1R DNQ 1R
Career statistics
Year-end ranking 59 51 39 33 29 9
Performance Table Legend
DNP Did not play at the event DNQ Did not qualify for the event NYF Not yet founded L# lost in the early rounds of the tournament
(WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin)
QF lost in the quarter-finals SF lost in the semi-finals F lost in the final W won the tournament

Nine-dart finishes
See also: Nine-dart finish
Dimitri Van den Bergh televised nine-dart finishes
Date Opponent Tournament Method Prize
14 November 2018 Stephen Bunting Grand Slam of Darts 3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12 £25,000

References
  1. "PDC Order of Merit". PDC.tv. 3 January 2021. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
  2. "Dimitri Van den Bergh hits a nine-darter at Grand Slam of Darts". SKY Sports. 15 November 2018. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
  3. "2013 British Teenage Open Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  4. "2013 PDC Challenge Tour England Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  5. "2014 PDC Qualifying School Day Four". PDC. Archived from the original on 19 January 2014. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  6. "German Darts Championship Round One". PDC. Archived from the original on 1 November 2014. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  7. "2014 PDC Under 21 World Championship Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  8. "Brown & Reynolds Earn Youth Wins". PDC. Archived from the original on 1 November 2014. Retrieved 1 November 2014.
  9. "Dimitri van den Bergh 2015". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 29 November 2015. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
  10. "2015 PDPA Players Championship Barnsley Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  11. "2015 World Series Of Darts Finals Qualifier Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  12. "2015 World Series Of Darts Finals Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  13. "2016 PDC World Championship Qualifiers". Darts Database. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
  14. "William Hill World Championship Day Three". PDC. Archived from the original on 21 December 2015. Retrieved 19 December 2015.
  15. "William Hill World Championship Day Nine". PDC. Archived from the original on 28 December 2015. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  16. "Dean & Dimitri's Development Tour Wins". PDC. Archived from the original on 20 November 2016. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
  17. "Nine-Dart van Gerwen's Barnsley Double". PDC. Archived from the original on 20 November 2016. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
  18. "2016 PDC Youth World Championship Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
  19. "SINGHA Beer Grand Slam Day One". PDC. Archived from the original on 20 November 2016. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
  20. "SINGHA Beer Grand Slam Day Four". PDC. Archived from the original on 25 November 2016. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
  21. "William Hill World Championship Day Three". PDC. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
  22. https://www.pdc.tv/news/2018/05/25/super-suljovics-german-darts-masters-glory
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