Andreas Harrysson claimed a WDF ranking title for the first time in two years as Beau Greaves completed a weekend double in the Denmark Masters.
Dirty Harry downs Stone to return to winners’ circle
Sweden international Andreas Harrysson came through a 272-player field to triumph in Esbjerg, defeating Scotland’s Gary Stone in the final.
The pair had met in the previous day’s Denmark Open, with Harrysson triumphing 4-1 in a high-quality game that saw both men average in excess of 100.
A 23-dart opening leg in the Masters final indicated that that meeting would be a scrappier affair, although Stone produced finishes of 85 and 145 to take an initial 3-1 lead.
‘Stoney’ then missed chances to make it 4-1 and was duly punished by the man nicknamed ‘Dirty Harry’. From that point, the story of the match was set, with Stone suffering double trouble and Harrysson proving clinical, the Swede ultimately winning five legs on the bounce as he ran out a 6-3 victory.
Harrysson’s battling instincts had been on display earlier in the day when he came through no less than four last-leg deciders to reach his first WDF final in six months.
Having already dug deep to beat Carl Wilkinson and Aaron Turner, Harrysson then did it again to Michael Mogensen and Daniel Skoda with 15 and 16-dart legs respectively to book his final meeting with Stone.
Stone, meanwhile, had looked in top form throughout the event, averaging over 90 in six of his seven matches, but was ultimately undone by those missed doubles in the final.
Denmark Masters | Men’s Quarter-Finals
Daniel Skoda 4-1 Ryan Hogarth
Andreas Harrysson 4-3 Michael Mogensen
Liam Maendl-Lawrance 4-2 Jimmy van Schie
Gary Stone 4-1 Alexander Merkx
Semi-Finals
Harrysson 5-4 Skoda
Stone 5-4 Maendl-Lawrance
Final
Harrysson 6-3 Stone
Greaves denies O’Sullivan to complete weekend title double
Through three events, Beau Greaves remains undefeated in singles competition in Denmark.
Having won the World Cup Singles last year and the Denmark Open the day before, Greaves completed the hat-trick with victory in the Denmark Masters.
The two-time World Champion kicked off her campaign with a trio of 4-1 wins over Wibke Riemann, Kirsi Viinikainen and Lerena Rietbergen. She then faced Lorraine Hyde in the quarter-finals, a rematch of the previous day’s Denmark Open title decider. She won that 4-2 before subsequently recording her highest average of the day to whitewash Deta Hedman in the semi-finals.
That booked a final with 2023 winner Rhian O’Sullivan. The Wales captain had been in rampant form all day, dropping just two legs as she recorded averages of 85.89, 88.22, 93.94, 92.49 and 93.94 to make the final.
That final was a back-and-forth affair, with both women having the lead at various points. After Greaves missed match darts to win 5-3, O’Sullivan levelled it up and forced a decider. Greaves didn’t make the same mistake twice though, taking out 62 for a 15-darter and the 5-4 victory.
Denmark Masters | Women’s Quarter-Finals
Beau Greaves 4-2 Lorraine Hyde
Deta Hedman 4-2 Lynsey Ward
Adrian van Wijgerden-Vermaat 4-1 Anna Forsmark
Rhian O’Sullivan 4-0 Natalie Gilbert
Semi-Finals
Greaves 4-0 Hedman
O’Sullivan 4-0 van Wijgerden-Vermaat
Final
Greaves 5-4 O’Sullivan
Super Steinbach claims Youth title
For the second successive day, a Danish player was denied a title on home soil in a deciding leg.
In the Denmark Masters Youth, it was Dutch teenager Kendji Steinbach that proved the heartbreaker. Having initially led 3-1 before being pulled back to 3-3 by August Villumsen, Steinbach produced a 17-darter in the deciding leg to win 4-3 with a 72.67 average.
Photos: Bent Lund / DDU
