OUTSTANDING HUYBRECHTS WINS DUTCH DARTS MASTERS TITLE
KIM HUYBRECHTS won the biggest title of his career as he claimed the £20,000 first prize in the Dutch Darts Masters with a 6-3 victory over Brendan Dolan in Sunday's final at the NH Hotel Koningshof.
The Belgian star followed up last week's victory in the John McEvoy Gold Dart Classic Players Championship in Killarney by claiming his third ranking title with a brilliant display in Holland.
Huybrechts - who also reached the Championship League Darts Winners Group this week - had won through to Sunday's final stages with wins over Dean Winstanley and Wayne Jones, before defeating Michael Mansell 6-4 in the third round.
He then edged past Peter Wright 6-5 in the quarter-finals and was brilliant in defeating Michael van Gerwen, the number one seed and local favourite, with a 6-3 victory in the semi-finals.
Huybrechts, though, saved his best display for the final as he recorded the same scoreline against Dolan, averaging 105.90 and hitting a series of key 180s as he picked up the win.
Dolan gave as good as he got, sharing the first two four legs of the final before breaking throw in the fifth on double 16 to lead 3-2.
Huybrechts, though, broke back immediately on double 18, after his opponent missed the same double, and he then hit 180s in the next two legs to leave 44 and 47 as he hit a brace of double 16s to lead 5-3.
He then opened the ninth leg with a fourth maximum of the game, and hit double 16 once more as he claimed the victory, dropping to his knees as he celebrated an emotional victory.
"It's been a great couple of weeks for me," said Huybrechts, who averaged 101 across six games in the tournament. "I'm loving it and playing some fantastic darts. I've put in a lot of hard work but really enjoyed myself and played really good darts in the Championship League, Killarney and now this. Before Killarney I only had one title, and now inside two weeks I've got three, so I'm really happy."
Huybrechts dedicated the title to the memory of his father, who had passed away last December but remained in the 27-year-old's thoughts throughout Sunday's final stages.
"It is very emotional for me," he admitted. "I still have a couple of text messages from my father on my phone, and I looked at them before the final. I'll keep doing that for the next five years, ten years or 20 years because he's always going to be an inspiration for me. Today I remembered what he said to me about being more confident, and I was reading the text messages and saying that I'd be confident in the final, whatever happened. It worked for me!"
Huybrechts also had plenty of support in the Veldhoven crowd, and added: "It's only 40 minutes for me so it's like a home event, so to win the tournament is perfect."
Dolan had seen off youngster David Pallett, Finland's Jarkko Komula and reigning champion Simon Whitlock in Sunday's final stages, and admitted: "I'm not too disappointed to lose. I probably played my best darts in the final but Kim thoroughly deserved to win. I'm happy to get this far and it's a major achievement when you consider the class of players that have been here. Kim and I came though and Kim got the better of me, and I've got no qualms with that because he was the better player. I'm chuffed with how I played in the final and it would have won me many other games on the tour. Someday it will be my day - this is my sixth or seventh final but one day I'll win one."
Whitlock had lifted the title 12 months ago in Nuland, but came up short in the semi-finals this time around as he went down 6-3 to Dolan, having won his quarter-final with Jamie Caven by the same scoreline earlier in the evening.
World number two van Gerwen also missed out in the last four as he sought a third European Tour win of the year, being knocked out 6-3 by Huybrechts after he had won a high-quality quarter-final with Newton in the same manner.
Finland's Komula's run to the quarter-finals, which included a memorable win over world number five James Wade in Sunday afternoon's third round, will see him qualify for the Ladbrokes World Darts Championship as he picked up 3,000 pound prize money.
In-form Peter Wright also won through to the last eight, but was denied in a deciding leg by Huybrechts as the Belgian marched into the final.
Runs to the last 16 for Pallett, Mansell, Swindon's Mark Cox and Essex thrower Michael Barnard aided their challenges to qualify for the World Championship through the ProTour Order of Merit, and they were joined in the third round by top 16 stars Mervyn King and Andy Hamilton.