Dirk van Duijvenbode faces Luke Littler in his maiden Betfred World Matchplay semi-final on Saturday evening, as the Dutchman hopes to add the biggest scalp in darts to his victories in Blackpool. Van Duijvenbode has accounted for three seeds so far at the Winter Gardens, including Chris Dobey, Michael van Gerwen and most recently Gary […]
Dirk van Duijvenbode faces Luke Littler in his maiden Betfred World Matchplay semi-final on Saturday evening, as the Dutchman hopes to add the biggest scalp in darts to his victories in Blackpool.
Van Duijvenbode has accounted for three seeds so far at the Winter Gardens, including Chris Dobey, Michael van Gerwen and most recently Gary Anderson in the quarter-finals.
The 34-year-old fended off Anderson’s fightback after having taken an authoritative 15-7 lead, before closing out the contest 16-13 to seal his last four spot.
After a patchy few months in the lead-up to the tournament, the Dutchman found unlikely inspiration in the music he listens to before matches.
“I’ve been struggling for seven months and I still haven’t found my best set-up, and I just had a conversation with myself,” assessed Van Duijvenbode, despite reaching a ProTour final back in May.
“Moaning doesn’t help. I tried to be more aggressive in this game [against Anderson]. I started listening to more aggressive music before I played, and I think that helped me in the end.
“If you’re more aggressive, you throw your darts harder and they stand up better in the board.”
Van Duijvenbode faced crowd favourites in his two most recent matches against former World Matchplay winners Van Gerwen and Anderson, and similar may be the case when he takes on Littler at the Winter Gardens.
Nevertheless, the former World Grand Prix runner-up is adamant that this won’t be an issue, citing previous big stage experiences.
“It wasn’t the first time against Michael that that happened,” considered Van Duijvenbode, a Tour Card Holder since 2016.
“I’ve played Barney [Raymond van Barneveld] on my debut in the World Championship, and that’s the first time I felt that.
“I’ve played Michael on Wednesday, now I’ve played Gary. You feel it [the crowd noise]. I take a little bit more time sometimes, and that’s what I did.
However, Van Duijvenbode will need something special to conquer the imperious Littler, who has averaged 110.91 across his three victories so far.
The world number one has dismantled Niko Springer, Nathan Aspinall and Josh Rock in reaching the last four, and has his eyes firmly focused on his next match against the Dutchman.
“I think I’ve got to get ahead of Dirk early on,” said the defending champion.
“I’ve just got to get into that lead, put him under pressure and make him start chasing.
“At the minute, I feel very good. Everything is going to plan. I can afford to miss a few doubles because the scoring is there.
“As long as I’m playing well, I think I’ll give it a really good go. Next game we will try and get better than a 109 average.”