Michael van Gerwen has continued his incredible start to the 2015 PDC Tour season with a dramatic victory in the fourth UK Open qualifier.
Ahead of the event in Wigan, Van Gerwen had lost just one of his previous 33 matches, and the world number one extended that run by a further seven matches with a win in the North-West.
However, after overcoming Mark Webster, Michael Smith and Andrew Gilding in the latter stages, the 25-year-old was fortunate to overcome Dutch compatriot Jelle Klaasen in a tense finale.
Klaasen, who had earlier defeated Phil Taylor in the semi-finals, opened up a 5-2 advantage but the former Lakeside winner missed as many as 10 match darts to inflict a rare loss on Van Gerwen.
The 2014 world champion recovered to level the contest at 5-5 before three successive scores of 134 helped him win the deciding leg.
Darren Plant
