Another Pro Tour weekend has past by, and with great success for Darius Labanauskas and Marko Kantele.
It may have slipped your nose, but this weekend the PDC Nordic & Baltic Pro Tour continued on Iceland. But before the Pro Tour started, two qualifications for the European Tour were being held at Friday.
The first qualification, for the European Darts Matchplay, was won by Dennis Nilsson. The Swede almost cruised through the qualification, as he 6-0, 6-2 and 6-1 in his first three matches against Jesper Skovgaard, Roland Lenngren and Niels Heinsøe. In the semi-final he met Oskar Lukasiak and won the match by 6-4. This was his smallest victory, as he did beat Niels-Jørgen Hansen by 6-2 in the final.
The Swedish success did not stop here, as Daniel Larsson won the second qualification. Daniel Larsson started by beating Roland Lenngren by 6-0, before he won 6-4 against Hallgrímur Egilsson. In the semi-final he was up against Dennis Nilsson, and even though Nilsson just had won the first qualification, Daniel Larsson won the match by 6-1. In the final he was up against Cor Dekker and won the match by 6-4.
At Saturday it was time for the Pro Tour 5. One of the highlights was when birthday boy Marko Kantele averaged amazing 105.8 against Ulf Ceder in the quarter-final. This was his highest ever registered average, beating his 103.20 average from Players Championship 22 this year. He won the quarter-final by 6-2.
In the semi-final he met another Tour Card holder, as he met Madars Razma. The Latvian ended up winning the match by 6-4.
In the final Madars Razma had to go up against the third Tour Card holder, Darius Labanauskas. Darius had previously won 6-3 against Oskar Lukasiak in the semi-final.
At first it looked like a safe win for Madars Razma, as he got up by 4-0. However, Darius Labanauskas did jot just wave with the white flag an got up to 4-3, before Madars won another leg and got up by 5-3. After this Darius Labanauskas won three legs in a row and won the match by 6-5. This was his second win on the Pro Tour this year.
Another European qualification
After the Pro Tour 5 if was time for yet another European qualification. This time is was for the Gibraltar Darts Trophy. The qualification was won by Cor Dekker, who revenged his loss from Friday, as it was Daniel Larsson he beat in the final. Cor won the match by 6-5, in a match where both players averaged above 90. This is just the second time Cor Dekker has qualified for a European Tour event. The first event will be the very next on the calender, more precise, Austrian Darts Championship.
At Sunday it was time for the last event of the weekend, the Pro Tour 6. Just as the Saturday, the three Tour Card holders got quite far in the tournament. It was not until the quarter-final, that one of them lost, as Darius Labanauskas lost against Daniel Larsson by 6-0.
The two other, Marko Kantele and Madars Razma, won 6-2 and 6-1 respectively and would go up against each other in the semi-final. Marko Kantele ended up winning the match by 6-0, as Madars Razma forfeit the match at 4-0.
The other semi-final was a Swedish clash, as Daniel Larsson was up against Dennis Nilsson. This time is was Dennis Nilsson who got the victory, as he won the match by 6-4.
In the final Dennis Nilsson got up by 3-1, but then Marko Kantele started winning a couple of legs and suddenly he had won five legs in a row and therefore he won the match by 6-3 and secured himself the first victory on the Pro Tour this year.