REPORT: Van Gerwen fights back to win German Masters as his European Tour dominance continues

Michael van Gerwen came from 4-2 down to beat Peter Wright 6-4 and retain his German Darts Masters crown in Munich tonight.

The world number one took on Snakebite in a repeat of their recent UK Open final, which van Gerwen won 11-4 in Minehead, and was looking to make it a perfect 10 of European Tour titles.

But Wright had other ideas as he stormed into leads of 3-1 and 4-2 in front of a sell-out crowd at the Ballhausforum to put him on the verge of his second tournament win of the season.

Van Gerwen took the first leg in 19 darts before the Scot won back-to-back legs to go 2-1 in front, with the second of those legs a brilliant 92 checkout with two double 18s.

The colourful Scot then produced a crushing 158 checkout to move 3-1 up, with the next two legs also going with throw as Wright surged into a 4-2 advantage midway through the final.

However, van Gerwen then took the next four legs without reply to steal the title from Snakebite’s grasp, with the Dutchman finishing the 10th leg in 14 darts with a 70 checkout to complete a 6-4 win.

Earlier on in the night van Gerwen had to work hard to see off up and coming star Chris Dobey 6-5 in a thrilling quarter-final clash.

Dobey, who was making his first appearance in a PDC quarter-final, looked to be heading for a famous win when checkouts of 130 and 143 helped him towards a 5-4 lead.

But van Gerwen fought back as he checked out 111 to hold his throw in the 10th leg, and then won the decider with an 11 darter against the throw to end Dobey’s run in Munich.

In the semi-finals MVG eased past Joe Cullen 6-1, who only a few hours ago had whitewashed world champion Gary Anderson 6-0 in the quarter-finals.

Wright’s path to the final saw him beat Adrian Lewis’ conqueror James Richardson 6-2 in the quarter-finals, before he edged past Michael Smith 6-4 to reach his fourth European Tour final.

Bully Boy had earlier come back from 3-0 down to beat Ian White in the quarter-finals.

2016 German Darts Masters (6pm-10pm UK time)
Day 3 Evening Session (Quarter-Finals to Final)

Quarter-Finals
Peter Wright 6-2 James Richardson
Ian White 4-6 Michael Smith
Joe Cullen 6-0 Gary Anderson
Chris Dobey 5-6 Michael van Gerwen

Semi-Finals
Peter Wright 6-4 Michael Smith
Joe Cullen 1-6 Michael van Gerwen

Final
Peter Wright 4-6 Michael van Gerwen