Razma stuns Aspinall as Van Gerwen survives early scare at the Nordic Masters

Madars Razma pulled off a shock 6-4 victory over Nathan Aspinall on opening night at the 2021 Nordic Darts Masters, while Michael van Gerwen dug deep to deny Darius Labanauskas.

Day One of the season’s opening World Series event saw the eight PDC representatives each face off against a Nordic & Baltic qualifier at Forum Copenhagen.

Latvia’s Razma ensured Nordic & Baltic representation in Saturday’s Quarter-Finals as he knocked out world number ten Aspinall in a dramatic contest.

The former ProTour event finalist opened up a 3-1 lead before missing four darts at doubles to hand Aspinall a reprieve in leg five.

Aspinall returned the favour as he squandered three darts to level at four apiece, allowing Razma to move 5-3 ahead, but only for the world number 52 to then miss five match darts in the following leg as ‘The Asp’ took out 68 to stay alive.

Razma, however, recovered well in the next leg to close out victory with a 76 checkout for an 11-darter.

His reward will be a show-down against Michael van Gerwen in the Last Eight after the three-time World Champion battled his way to a narrow 6-5 success over Labanauskas.

Van Gerwen opened up a 3-1 lead before Labanauskas pegged back to parity, though a 100 checkout saw MVG regain the upper-hand at 4-3.

Labanauskas levelled again and was on-hand to punish five missed match darts from the Dutchman in leg nine to break throw and move 5-4 in front.

Van Gerwen responded with double six for a 13-darter to force a decider and landed a timely fourth 180 before holding his nerve on double eight to clinch victory.

Fallon Sherrock got off to a flying start as she swept aside Danish qualifier Niels Heinsøe.

Sherrock punished eleven missed darts at doubles from the recent Danish World Cup representative to move through with an 87.4 average.

Fallon Sherrock reacts (Photo by Mikal Schlosser/PDC)

Sherrock will now face Gerwyn Price in Saturday afternoon’s opening Quarter-Final after the world number one overcame Daniel Larsson 6-3.

Price was far below his best, averaging just 90.4, but two ton-plus finishes helped him on his way to victory, afterwards admitting he is suffering from an elbow injury which could force him to consider withdrawing from the tournament.

Premier League champion Jonny Clayton was the most emphatic winner on the night as he whitewashed Denmark’s Ivan Springborg Poulsen 6-0 with a 99 average and a high checkout of 161.

Clayton will now face Peter Wright on Saturday after the World Matchplay champion brushed aside Finland’s Marko Kantele 6-1 despite an average of just 88.6.

Gary Anderson marked his first competitive appearance since July’s World Matchplay with a comfortable 6-3 win over Andreas Toft Jørgensen.

Anderson averaged 95.4 despite 15 missed darts at doubles as he set up a meeting with Dimitri van den Bergh in a repeat of the 2020 World Matchplay final.

Van den Bergh defied a bout of double trouble as he overcame Sweden’s Johan Engström in the opening match of the evening.

Van den Bergh missed 19 darts at the outer ring in a cagey contest but dragged himself over the line despite a resilient effort from the recent World Cup qualifier.

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Nordic Darts Masters 2021 Results

Friday September 17

First Round

Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-4 Johan Engström
Jonny Clayton 6-0 Ivan Springborg Poulsen
Nathan Aspinall 4-6 Madars Razma
Gerwyn Price 6-3 Daniel Larsson
Gary Anderson 6-3 Andreas Toft Jørgensen
Fallon Sherrock 6-1 Niels Heinsøe
Peter Wright 6-1 Marko Kantele
Michael van Gerwen 6-5 Darius Labanauskas