AFTER two brilliant World Grand Prix comebacks, Joe Cullen found himself on the receiving end of one against Dimitri Van den Bergh, as he bowed out of the major at the quarter-final stage.
The Bradford darts ace had recovered nicely to beat Chris Dobey and Daryl Gurney in the last-32 and last-16, and he took a 1-0 lead against Belgium’s Van den Bergh on Friday night.
It was a tight first set, but Cullen won the deciding leg on his own through, taking out D16 with his opponent way back on 227.
Van den Bergh hit back in set two, establishing a 2-1 lead, before taking advantage of a sloppy leg from Cullen.
The Wyke native did not make the most of his own throw and the Belgian produced an 83 checkout to level things up, with Cullen not even on a finish.
The Bradford man was wasting his chances, but he still had the opportunity to take set three to a deciding leg when he left himself D18.
But Van den Bergh hit two single twenties and a bullseye to clean up 90, leaving Cullen high and dry.
After a poor start, the Belgian was starting to find form, averaging 98 in that third set.
A deflated Cullen could not hit back from there, and Van den Bergh won his third successive set 3-1 to move into the semi-finals.
He even had the luxury of missing three match darts, before pinning D18 to seal a last four clash against fellow Belgian Mike De Decker.
Averages are generally lower at the World Grand Prix due to the double start format, but even so, Cullen will have been disappointed with his 79.65 against Van den Bergh, the only one below 80 out of all eight quarter-finalists.
Van den Bergh was beaten 5-2 in the semis by De Decker, while world number one Luke Humphries dismantled Ryan Joyce 5-0 to make the final.
But underdog De Decker was superb in the showpiece, romping into a 4-1 lead in the first-to-six clash.
He wobbled mid-game, with Humphries drawing level at 4-4, but the Belgian found a second wind, winning the match 6-4 to claim his first-ever ranking major title.
It was an extraordinary achievement by De Decker, who had never previously made it beyond the last-32 of any major in his career before this year's Grand Prix.
Conversely, Humphries won last year's World Grand Prix, while he is also reigning World Champion and World Matchplay winner.
The Leeds native is also looking to defend his Grand Slam title next month, while this year he finished as runner up in both the UK Open and the Premier League.
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