Michael van Gerwen: Dutchman suffers heavy defeat to Martin Lukeman in Stuttgart | Darts News

World No 71 Martin Lukeman hammers 35-time Euro Tour winner Michael van Gerwen 6-1 at the Interwetten European Darts Grand Prix on Saturday; the Watford arrowsmith now faces Martin Schindler in Sunday afternoon’s third round

Michael van Gerwen suffered a humiliating 6-1 defeat at the hands of Martin ‘Smash’ Lukeman in Stuttgart on Saturday

Michael van Gerwen suffered a humiliating 6-1 hammering at the hands of Watford’s Martin ‘Smash’ Lukeman at the Interwetten European Darts Grand Prix on Saturday.

Lukeman, who reached the final of a European Tour event in Munich over Easter, continued his love affair with German stage events by claiming the scalp of world No 3 Van Gerwen.

The Dutchman has won three of the six European Tour events staged so far this year, but was punished for 13 missed doubles as Lukeman claimed a memorable success at the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle.

Lukeman celebrates his incredible victory against MVG

Lukeman had defeated Stefan Bellmont to set up a meeting with Van Gerwen and he produced one of the performances of his career to dismantle the three-time World Champion.

The 37-year-old now plays Martin Schindler in Sunday afternoon’s third round, with the German ace running out a 6-2 winner against Madars Razma.

Van Gerwen took to social media later in the night to apologise to his fans, saying: “Angry and disappointed with myself with that performance. Missing 13 darts at a double is unacceptable and I can only blame myself, sorry to all the fans Stuttgart who were fantastic. Well done @SmashLukeman180 and good luck tomorrow. Thank you for all support.”

Luke Humphries, who won his second European Tour title of 2022 in Prague last weekend, edged out Ryan Meikle 6-5 to open his challenge for another £25,000 pay-day.

The former World Youth Champion will begin Sunday’s final stages against Joe Murnan, who came from 4-2 down to defeat Jose de Sousa.

Premier League leader Jonny Clayton hit back from 2-0 down against Adrian Lewis to move into the final day of action with a 6-3 success.

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Van Gerwen showed what he can do with this spectacular 145 checkout during his Premier League clash with Michael Smith at London’s O2

Clayton’s third round opponent will be World Champion Peter Wright in a tasty fixture after the world No 1 came from 2-1 down to win 6-2 against Sweden’s Johan Engstrom.

UK Open champion Danny Noppert defied a 103 average from Michael Smith to progress with a 6-4 win from a top-quality contest, averaging over 102 in reply and sealing victory with a 124 checkout.

Masters champion Joe Cullen was unable to repeat the form of Thursday’s Premier League triumph in London as he lost out 6-3 to Rowby-John Rodriguez.

Sunday’s final stages begin with the third round in the afternoon session, ahead of the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final in the evening session in Stuttgart.

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The best of the action from Night 15 of the Premier League Darts in London as Joe Cullen sneaks into the final playoff spot ahead of Newcastle next week

Interwetten European Darts Grand Prix
Saturday May 21
Second Round
Afternoon Session
Damon Heta 6-5 Mickey Mansell
Joe Murnan 6-5 Dimitri Van den Bergh
Ryan Searle 6-2 Adam Gawlas
Daryl Gurney 6-4 Eddie Lovely
Andrew Gilding 6-5 Jose de Sousa
Krzysztof Ratajski 6-2 Kim Huybrechts
Brendan Dolan 6-4 Danny Jansen
Rob Cross 6-5 Jelle Klaasen

Evening Session
Rowby-John Rodriguez 6-1 Joe Cullen
Luke Humphries 6-5 Ryan Meikle
Jonny Clayton 6-3 Adrian Lewis
Martin Lukeman 6-1 Michael van Gerwen
Martin Schindler 6-2 Madars Razma
Peter Wright 6-2 Johan Engstrom
Danny Noppert 6-4 Michael Smith
Nathan Rafferty 6-3 Dirk van Duijvenbode

Sunday May 22
Afternoon Session (1300 local time, 1200 BST)
Third Round
Martin Lukeman vs Martin Schindler
Damon Heta vs Ryan Searle
Rowby-John Rodriguez vs Daryl Gurney
Rob Cross vs Krzysztof Ratajski
Andrew Gilding vs Brendan Dolan
Joe Murnan vs Luke Humphries
Peter Wright vs Jonny Clayton
Danny Noppert vs Nathan Rafferty

Evening Session (1900 local time, 1800 BST)
Quarter-Finals
Semi-Finals
Final

Check out daily Darts news on skysports.com/darts, our app for mobile devices and our Twitter account @skysportsdarts. We’re back for more Premier League action from the Utilita Arena, Newcastle on Thursday, May 26 – live on Sky Sports Action & Main Event from 7pm.