World Darts Championship final live score, updates & highlights as Smith hits nine darter vs. Van Gerwen

By | January 3, 2023
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Only Michael Smith stands in Michael van Gerwen’s way in his quest for a fourth World Darts Championship title as the pair face off in the final at Alexandra Palace tonight.

The Dutchman whitewashed Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-0 in last night’s semifinal as Smith, chasing a first world title, overcame German No.1 Gabriel Clemens 6-2 in his match.

Bookies will have Van Gerwen down as the favourite for this one but Smith is determined to right the wrongs of his final defeat from 2019 which the his opponent won 7-3.

The Sporting News is on hand to bring you live updates and highlights of the match below with play due to get underway at approximately 8:30pm GMT.

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Michael Smith vs. Michael van Gerwen live score

  Sets  Legs  Final
Smith 1 2 –
Van Gerwen 1 1 –

World Darts Championship final updates, highlights as Michael Smith takes on Michael van Gerwen 

All times GMT 

8:56pm: Perhaps the greatest leg ever seen, Smith is only the second player in history to hit a 9-dart finish in a world final. Adrian Lewis in 2011 was the first.

8:52pm: Simply one of the greatest sets of darts YOU WILL EVER SEE!

After the first two legs went with throw, both players hit 6 perfect darts at the start of leg three.

Van Gerwen then hit two treble 20s but missed double 12 for the perfect leg. HOWEVER, Smith responded by popping treble 20, treble 17 and double 12 to raise the roof at the Ally Pally!

Smith followed up that break of throw by holding in the next leg to win the set and level the match up at one set all.

Game on here!

8:50pm: WOWWWWWWW! MICHAEL SMITH HITS A 9-DART FINISH!!!!

8:42pm: Van Gerwen BREAKS Smith in First Set (Smith 0-1 Van Gerwen)

Van Gerwen needed several darts in leg two with his throw to open his account – eventually pinning double one – but Mighty Mike finished the set in style, breaking Smith in leg three and then winning the set, 3-1, with leg four. Two 180s thrown by each player already.

8:32pm: Both players have made their walk-ons. Will it be world title number four for Van Gerwen, or number one for Smith?

Smith throws first in the opening set.

8.20pm: Both players came to this tournament in brilliant form.

Van Gerwen has won four major titles in 2022 – the Premier League, World Matchplay, World Grand Prix and Players Championship Finals.

After two bitter final defeats in the UK Open and European Championship earlier in the year, Smith won his maiden major TV title in November at the Grand Slam.

8:00pm: Are we due a deciding set final tonight?

Four of the 29 PDC World Darts Championship finals have gone to a deciding set – 2003, 2004, 2007 and 2015. They all featured Phil Taylor, although he was on the losing side three times.

There have also been four whitewash finals – 1998, 2001, 2002 and 2006. Again, a certain Mr. P. Taylor was involved in all these matches – although he won each one.

Not long to go now until the 2023 final…

7:45pm: What are the odds?

Unsurprisingly, Van Gerwen starts the match as a warm 2/7 on shot with SkyBet to win a fourth world title tonight.

Throughout the tournament, Smith (44) has hit 12 more 180s that Van Gerwen (32), although bear in mind that he has played several more sets during the championship so his 2/5 odds of hitting the most 180s this evening may not be as value as it sounds.

During last night’s semi-finals, Smith hit a checkout of 161 and Van Gerwen struck the biggest possible – a 170. It’s 2/1 tonight with SkyBet that there will be a checkout of over 160.5 in the match.

7:25pm: The 30th PDC WDC Final

Only 10 players have ever won the PDC World Darts Championship since the event was first held in 1994 – will Michael Smith be the 11th?

Dennis Priestley defeated Phil Taylor 6-1 in the inaugural final, but it’s fair to say that The Power responded pretty well as he went on to claim the title a staggering 14 times.

Following legendary darts commentator Sid Waddell’s death in 2012, a new world championship trophy was made and named in his honour. Either van Gerwen or Smith will be lifting it tonight.

7:10pm: The World Number One spot will be decided

As if the world title and a ยฃ500,000 payday weren’t enough, tonight’s winner will also go to the top of the world rankings.

Van Gerwen is looking to regain the WN1 spot while Smith is trying to reach the summit for the first time in his career. In the PDC World Rankings, prize money is also translated into points. You can view this year’s world championship prize money here.

No pressure, lads!

6:55pm: MICHAEL VAN GERWEN – ROAD TO THE FINAL

Three-time winner Michael van Gerwen came to the Ally Pally as the tournament favourite and he has lived up to expectations with several sizzling performance en route to the final, hitting three-figure averages in all five of his matches.

Mighty Mike eliminated Lewy Williams 3-0 first up before coming through a stunning match with Mensur Suljovic, 4-2, in the last 32.

The Dutchman then defeated compatriot Dirk van Duijvenbode 4-1 and inflicted whitewashes against Chris Dobey (5-0) in the last eight and Dimitri Van den Bergh (6-0) in the last four.

Van Gerwen has dropped just three sets in five matches – absolutely incredible!

6:40pm: MICHAEL SMITH – ROAD TO THE FINAL

Number four seed Smith defeated youngster Nathan Rafferty 3-0 in his opening match before coming back from 3-1 down to oust Martin Schindler 4-3 in the last 32.

The 32-year-old Englishman then produced an average of 103.25 – his best of the tournament, so far – as he dispatched Masters champion Joe Cullen 4-1 in the last 16.

In the new year, Smith saw off Stephen Bunting 5-3 in the quarter-finals and won the final four sets to end the historic campaign of Gabriel Clemens, 6-2, last night in the semis.

6:20pm: IT’LL BE ALL-MIKE ON THE NIGHT

We’re less than two hours away from the biggest match in darts – the 2022/23 PDC World Darts Championship Final.

Van Gerwen is appearing in his sixth world final and looking for his fourth win after victories in 2014, 2017 and 2019.

Michael Smith will be hoping it’s third time lucky as he aims to achieve his dream of being a world champion. The Bully Boy lost to Van Gerwen in the 2019 title match and to Peter Wright twelve months ago.

6pm: Hello, and welcome to The Sporting News’ live coverage of the World Darts Championship final! 96 players are down to just two as Michael Smith and Michael van Gerwen battle it out for the Sid Waddell trophy. It’s set to be a cracker of a final… let’s get going with some build up!

World Darts Championship TV channel, live stream

  UK USA Canada Australia New Zealand
Time 12:30 / 19:00 GMT 07:30 / 14:00 ET 07:30 / 14:00 ET 23:00 / 18:00 AEST 01:00 / 20:00 NZDT
TV channel Sky Sports Darts  โ€” โ€” Fox Sports Sky Sport
Streaming Sky Go app DAZN DAZN Foxtel/Kayo Sky Sport

*Table above indicates afternoon and evening session start times

Viewers can also log in to subscription service PDCTV to watch the action throughout the Championship (excluding UK, Germany, Austria and Switzerland based subscribers).

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