Red-hot Jose admits his triples are easy

By Phil Lanning

RED-HOT Jose de Sousa admitted his triples are easy as he romped to an opening Super Series victory in Germany.

The Portuguese ace delivered an incredible 114 average to dump Luke Humphries in the final and take the £10,000 title.

With 26 tour card holders missing from the event in Niedernhausen, Scotland’s double major winner Robert Thornton returned and rolled back the years with a couple of excellent wins before going out to Nathan Aspinall.

The Thorn beat Keane Barry and Boris Krcmar but lost out 6-2 to Aspinall, who then hit a nine-darter against Scot Andy Boulton.

But it was a miserable day for the Dutch with Michael van Gerwen, Raymond van Barneveld and Dirk van Duijvenbode all crashing out in the opening round.

But there were no issues for the dynamic De Sousa with a 96 average for the tournament and a comfortable 8-1 final win over Humphries.

He said: “This is a special moment. I played well but I think my doubles were the reason I got to the final, they helped me a lot today so I’m happy.

“Right now I’m feeling in great shape, and my triple 20s are easy to make, and when you make so many triples you come to the final.

“I’m very happy for my doubles today, it was so important for me to make my doubles. I came up in my percentage in my doubles so it’s amazing for me.

“Today, the feeling was so good. This doesn’t stop here and tomorrow I have another day, and I hope I can do the same.”

World Matchplay champion Van den Bergh enjoyed his best run in a ProTour event since August 2019 as he won through to the semi-finals, averaging 111 in a quarter-final defeat of Jamie Hughes and only losing eight legs on his way to the last four.

Images by Taylor Lanning.