Photo: Mikal Schlosser/PDC

It was a bittersweet night at the darts, as Nordic Darts Masters once again showed some of the best dart players in the world against the best players from the Nordic & Baltic region.

If anyone had hoped for an underdog fairytale at the 2023 Nordic Darts Masters from one of the local players, they did not get what they wanted.

Even thoug the audience seemed to like the fact, that this big tournament was back on Danish soil, the dart fever never really got into them, as the most matches at Friday evening was rather one sided.

Marko Kantele was the first Nordic and Baltic player to take the stage, however he never really found a level that really could compete against the high level of Luke Humphries, meaning the Englishman took a victory by 6-1 in the first match of the evening.

After this Daniel Larsson was to play. And even though he secured himself a couple more legs against Jonny Clayton, it still wasn’t enough for a Nordic and Baltic victory, as the Welshman got out of the game with a 6-3 victory.

In the next two matches the super stars of the PDC did not make it easy for Madars Razma and Benjamin Drue Reus, as both Dimitri Van den Bergh and Gerwyn Price had an average at just about 100, and thereby won the matches by 6-2 and 6-0.

It wasn’t until the fifth match of the evening, that the Forum in Copenhagen got to see a match go all the way to the 11th and deciding leg. Peter Wright got himself up by 3-1 and 5-3, however Dennis Nilsson kept his cool and took two legs in a row and made it 5-5.

Unfortunately the Swede never got a dart at a double, as Peter Wright checked out 42, as Dennis Nilsson still had 51 left.

In the sixth match of the evening, we saw yet another 6-0 win, as Michael Smith sent Darius Labanauskas out of the tournament, just before Rob Cross did the same to Vladimir Andersen. Vladimir Andersen however secured himself a single leg in that match.

In the last match of the evening Andreas Harrysson had to face Michael van Gerwen, and even though he did all he could, Michael van Gerwen was just to good and got himself a win by 6-3.

2023 Nordic Darts Masters
Friday January 20
First Round
Luke Humphries 6-1 Marko Kantele
Jonny Clayton 6-3 Daniel Larsson
Dimitri Van den 6-2 Bergh v Madars Razma
Gerwyn Price 6-0 Benjamin Drue Reus
Peter Wright 6-5 Dennis Nilsson
Michael Smith 6-0 Darius Labanauskas
Rob Cross 6-1 Vladimir Andersen
Michael van Gerwen v Andreas Harrysson

Saturday January 21
Afternoon Session (13.00 local time)
Quarter-Finals

Evening Session (20.00 local time)
Semi-Finals
Final