JOE Cullen saw off a home favourite in the ninth European Tour event of the season, before crashing to a humiliating defeat to good friend and top seed Dave Chisnall in the last-32.
The Bradford thrower was out in Hildesheim for the German Darts Championship over the weekend, looking to build on the Players Championship final he reached a few weeks ago, where he lost 8-6 in a hard-fought encounter against Josh Rock.
As the 16th seed, Cullen had a bye through the opening round, but had the tricky task of taking on popular German Max Hopp in the last-32.
The Wyke ace silenced the home crowd quickly by racing into a 3-0 lead, but they soon found their voice again, as their man pulled the score back to 3-3.
Cullen eventually edged 5-4 in front, before Hopp missed several attempts on his own throw to take it to a decider.
Instead, the Bradford man held his nerve to checkout 98, his highest of the match, to win 6-4.
That put Cullen into a tricky tie against Chisnall, but he never gave himself a chance with an awful performance.
The Wyke man missed all four of his attempts at a checkout, averaged a miserable 79.50, and Chisnall deservedly romped to a 6-0 victory.
Taking to social media afterwards, Cullen posted the below:
No excuses there….. think I woke up with someone else’s arm this morning! Probably my worst performance on the euro tour ever 🤦🏽♂️
— J O E C U L L E N (@rockstar_13_) September 1, 2024
These games happen from time to time but it’s tough to take when they do. It’s one of those that’s that bad that if I didn’t laugh I’d cry 🫠😅
St Helens native Chisnall made it to the semis, where he lost 7-5 to a resurgent Peter Wright.
And the Scot then went on to win a remarkable final against teenage sensation Luke Littler.
Littler averaged 106.87 in the match, with that figure north of 110 at one point.
The 17-year-old was also 5-2 in front, but Wright produced an incredible comeback, winning six straight legs to claim the title with an 8-5 victory.
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