World Darts Championship: Michael van Gerwen insists he has plenty more to give as he chases fourth title

Three-time champion Michael van Gerwen insists he has plenty more to give after chiselling out a 4-2 win over last year’s quarter-finalist Brendan Dolan.

Dolan drew first blood in a competitive opening set, although Van Gerwen responded with a superb run of eight straight legs – including 129 and 149 combinations – to establish a 3-1 buffer.

‘The History Maker’ claimed a scrappy fifth set to reduce the arrears, only for the Dutchman to regain his poise in the closing stages to move through to a meeting against either Paolo Nebrida or Gary Anderson’s conqueror, Jeffrey de Graaf.

Van Gerwen said: “I think the sport gets harder and harder. There’s more money involved. There’s more interviews. Darts is getting bigger internationally, globally, around the world. So maintaining your form, keep doing the right thing for yourself is really important.”

The Dutch ace feels Anderson put too much pressure on himself before suffering an early exit at this year’s tournament.

‘The Flying Scotsman’ was outplayed by Dutch-born Swedish star De Graaf, who sent him crashing out of the tournament with a surprise 3-0 hammering.

“We all know Gary had a good year on the Pro Tour but we also know he put too much pressure on his shoulders in the last few weeks by telling everyone he could have done it,” said Van Gerwen. “But as long as you keep believing and doing the right thing for yourself, no one cares.”

Van Gerwen, who last lifted the Sid Waddell Trophy in 2019, says self-belief is the secret to going far at Ally Pally.

“As long as you stand by yourself anything is possible,” he said. “To win this tournament you need to have some proper balls – everyone knows that. We’re still so far away. We’re only in the last 16 now so there is still a long way to go.”

“Can you imagine if I do throw a 100 per cent good match? I know it’s in there, only I have to show it.”

He added: “Winning is the best medicine in the house. If you don’t win, you need to go back to the doctors and get more medicine to win the game.”

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Watch the World Darts Championship on Sky Sports

Watch all the action at the 2025 PDC World Darts Championship from Alexandra Palace on Sky Sports Darts as Luke Humphries defends his title with Luke Littler and Van Gerwen all in action – and you can enjoy the very best here.

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