Dimitri Van den Bergh


Dimitri Van den Bergh is a Belgian darts player who currently competes in Professional Darts Corporation events. He is a two-time World Youth Champion, and the current World Matchplay champion in his debut year, after beating Gary Anderson 18–10 in the final.

Career

BDO

In 2013, Van den Bergh won the British Teenage Open by beating Billy Longshaw 3–0 in the final. Two months later he claimed the 16th PDC Challenge Tour event of the year by whitewashing Reece Robinson 4–0.

PDC

In 2014, he entered Q School in an attempt to earn a PDC tour card, but he couldn't advance beyond the last 64 in any of the four days. However, he was granted PDPA Associate Member status for participating which gave him entry into UK Open and European tour qualifiers. Van den Bergh qualified for the first European Tour event, the German Darts Championship and lost 6–2 in the first round against Ronnie Baxter despite averaging 102.94. Van den Bergh won three youth tour titles during the year and also reached the last 16 of the Under-21 World Championship, where he lost 6–3 to Robinson. He finished top of the Youth Tour Order of Merit which earned him a two-year card for the main PDC tour.
Van den Bergh claimed two Development Tour titles in 2015. He reached the last 16 of a PDC event for the first time at the third Players Championship event, but lost 6–5 to Mensur Suljović. Van den Bergh was also knocked out in the second round of three European Tour events. He qualified for the inaugural World Series of Darts Finals but was beaten 6–3 by Max Hopp in the first round in what was van den Bergh's televised debut.
He qualified for the 2016 World Championship through the European Pro Tour Order of Merit and danced on to the stage before his first round encounter with Ian White. Van den Bergh missed four darts for the first set, but went on to win 3–1 taking out four ton-plus finishes during the match. He lost 4–2 to Benito van de Pas in the following round. Van den Bergh won the 14th Development Tour event by overcoming Steve Lennon 4–2. At the 15th Players Championship tournament Van den Bergh reached the semi-finals of a main tour event for the first time with wins over Devon Petersen, Jan Dekker, Ronny Huybrechts, Chris Dobey and Cristo Reyes, but he lost 6–2 to Michael van Gerwen. In the semi-finals of the World Youth Championship, Van den Bergh was beaten 6–3 by Corey Cadby. He won a place at the Grand Slam by coming through the qualifying event and edged his first group match 5–4 over Gerwyn Price. Van den Bergh was then beaten 5–4 by Robert Thornton, but after defeating Scott Waites 5–4 in the final group game it meant he was tied with Thornton on points and leg difference. This meant a nine-dart shoot-out was required to decide who would advance to the knock-out stage and Thornton won by 345 points to 340.
Van den Bergh's first round match at the 2017 World Championship went to a deciding set and was on throw, but he missed two darts at double eight to send it to a tie-break, allowing Cristo Reyes to step in and win 3–2.
Van den Bergh's debut in the World Series of Darts came with a stellar performance in the 2018 German Darts Masters where he lost in the final to Mensur Suljović 2-8 after defeating Michael van Gerwen 8-3 in the quarter-final and Gary Anderson 8-7 in the semi-final.
Following Gary Anderson's withdrawal from the 2019 Premier League, Van den Bergh was selected as one of nine 'contenders' to replace him. He would play a one-off match against James Wade on night eight in Rotterdam.

World Championship performances

PDC

PDC major finals: 1 (1 titles, 0 runners-up)

Legend
World Matchplay

OutcomeNo.YearChampionshipOpponent in the finalScore
Winner1.2020World Matchplay Gary Anderson18–10

PDC World Series finals: 1 (1 runner-up)

OutcomeNo.YearChampionshipOpponent in the finalScore
Runner-up1.2018German Darts Masters Mensur Suljović2–8

Performance timeline

Nine-dart finishes

DateOpponentTournamentMethodPrize
14 November 2018 Stephen BuntingGrand Slam of Darts3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12£25,000