Dimitri van den Bergh produced a brilliant nine-darter to light up the Tempodrom in Berlin (Image: ITV SPORT)
hit a sensational nine-darter against at the Winmau World Masters on Saturday night – but then barely celebrated despite it only being the third nine-dart finish of his career on TV.
He later explained he was so focused on winning the match, which he did with a 4-3 scoreline, that he hardly even realised he pulled off the hardest feat in darts.
While trailing three sets to two, in the very first leg of a decisive set, Van den Bergh followed up back-to-back 180s with a brilliant 141 checkout – hitting T20, T15 and D18.
Yet despite Berlin’s Tempodrom exploding in celebration, Van den Bergh kept his cool. He raised his finger to the sky before collecting his darts from the board while wearing a very stern facial expression and refusing to react to the crowd.
Commentator Stuart Pyke reacted: “He takes the plaudits. Van den Bergh dazzles – the crowd go crazy. It’s a nine-darter. There was no reaction, no reaction whatsoever!
“He just carried on. He got a fist bump from Michael van Gerwen. Van Gerwen acknowledges it. Van den Bergh strikes gold.”
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John Rawling added: “The crowd went absolutely berserk. They popped like a champagne cork when that went in the double. As you say Stewart, his focus is on the match. Outstanding from Van den Bergh.”
World No.18 Van den Bergh earlier had the darts to move 3-1 up but went bust and was forced to launch a comeback after Van Gerwen won consecutive sets to put himself in control.
Following his nine-darter, the Belgian levelled it to force a decisive seventh set which he took with a D8 finish for his first triumph over MVG in nearly seven years.
Van den Bergh progresses to the quarter-finals where he will face Nathan Aspinall. He finally let his emotions out after his victory was confirmed as he wore a huge smile on stage and celebrated emphatically with the crowd.
When Pyke mentioned the size of his smile to the Belgian in an interview for ITV, Van den Bergh replied: “Can you blame me sir? Everybody knows the stats between me and MVG.
Dimitri Van den Bergh was unusually calm after hitting the nine (Image: ITV SPORT)
Dimitri Van den Bergh earned a fist bump from Michael van Gerwen (Image: ITV SPORT)
“Yeah, I felt in the game there were many opportunities. There were many moments where I didn’t take him. I think it was written in the sky for once that MVG didn’t have his night. I just take it on board and me and MVG have just seen the stats.
“It was a 98 for Michael, 97 for me, we didn’t finish or score the way we normally do but tonight has been, for me… what can I say. Damo, this one was for you. I’m stoked!”
After beating Van Gerwen for just the second time and beating told he held his nerve, he added: “Well, did I? Cause the last leg I played I think I had three shots between 40 and 50 and I was annoyed with it on the inside.
“But I was like ‘Focus, focus, focus.’ And here I am standing here. I know I played really good patches in the game, there were moments I couldn’t really miss and moments where I was like, ‘Alright whatever you’ve got, throw it at me.’
“Then there were moments when I was letting him back in. I should have gone 3-1 up and made my life easy but I didn’t. All of these mental things.
“But for me at the end of the day, Michael we’ve played so many games before me and him. Many ton-plus averages and tonight, finally, for a while, this Belgian beauty is through to the freaking quarter-finals! Happy days.”
Dimitri Van den Bergh let out his emotions once the match was over (Image: ITV SPORT)
Dimitri Van den Bergh was visibly elated after winning the match (Image: ITV SPORT)
Asked about the nine-darter itself, Van den Bergh continued: “I was 3-2 down, the focus was to win the leg. I was saying to myself, ‘Play your game.’ I went 180 and that’s what you need to do when you’re 3-2 down in sets and you’re starting.
“Best of three, that means whatever’s going on, you’ve got to make it happen. You’ve got to hold your throw which I did, so 180, 180, I went treble, treble and double 18.
“I went, ‘Yes, that’s my leg!’ And afterwards, after the game was finished and I won, they said ‘Dimi you got the nine’ and I said ‘Oh yeah! I hit a nine-darter!’
“I don’t know why, it was strange, I was so focused. I’ve seen so many people, I don’t want to be disrespectful but Christian Kist for example hit a nine-darter – it was amazing, I loved it – but you need to win the match. That’s what my focus was.
“I’ve got to finish the interview right here, tomorrow I’ve got another big day in the quarter-finals, I’m gonna get some food and go to bed, call the family and get myself relaxed because I believe in what I can do. See you tomorrow. Work hard, play hard.”