Simon Whitlock produced some brilliant darts in front of an adoring Dusseldorf crowd but was denied victory in the European Darts Open by the formidable Michael van Gerwen.
Whitlock delighted an army of fans in Germany, some of which were kitted out in full ‘Wizard’ attire, with a brilliant run to the final of the PDC’s European Tour event.
The Australian ace picked up £10,000 for a wonderful weekend’s work which ended with defeat at the hands of the new Premier League Champion.
“I’m happy to make the final and I’ve done really well,” Whitlock told the PDC’s official website. “I’d have loved to have won it, but Michael’s the best player on the planet right now, and fair play to him, he played brilliant.
“He was absolutely awesome in the final. I beat Michael in the last two times I played him before this final and I expected to win, but the man is so good and he plays great darts.
“I had some tough games and I’m happy with my performance to make the final.”
“I also want to thank the crowd because they were great – it’s the best crowd in the world for me. I don’t get support like this anywhere else and I’m so grateful to have such a great crowd.”
Whitlock had seen off Tomas Seyler and Arron Monk to reach Saturday’s last 16, where he defeated James Wade.
He then produced a brilliant performance in his quarter-final success over Justin Pipe, firing in eight 180s and taking out a marvellous maximum finish of 170.
The world number five then progressed to the final with a 6-4 victory over Jamie Caven before losing out to van Gerwen at the last hurdle.
Whitlock will join van Gerwen and the other six players ranked inside the world’s top eight in the Dubai Duty Free Masters next week.
By Chris Murphy