Peter Wright warns former lodger Dimitri van den Bergh: ‘The master will reign’ at World Matchplay

Peter Wright has no room for sentiment against his former lodger Dimitri van den Bergh at the World Matchplay on Thursday night, telling the Belgian: ‘The master will reign.’

The quarter-final meeting is a clash between the last two winners of the Matchplay and a repeat of last year’s final, which Wright won 18-9.

That 2021 final came a year after Van den Bergh had spent three months living with Wright as lockdown meant he couldn’t travel to and from his native Belgium.

As a result the pair know each other very well, although Wright reckons the Dream-maker has got even better since their time together, as shown by him winning the Nordic Darts Masters and Dutch Darts Masters this year.

Snakebite has plenty of praise for Dimitri, but finished his assessment with a warning, that he would not let his apprentice get the better of him in Blackpool.

‘He’s playing really well, he’s really confident, he’s won two big tournaments this year, full of confidence,’ said Wright after beating Krzysztof Ratajski in the second round.

‘We’ll see what happens. One of us could run away with it or it’s going to be really close, one of the two.

‘He’s changed, everyone changes. He’s learned his own routines that have helped him become a better player, which is good, it shows on TV and other tournaments.

‘I didn’t teach him everything though, the master will reign.’

Wright certainly had no problem in putting emotion aside in the final last year, averaging nearly 106 in a comfortable win.

Before that game 12 months ago, Snakebite said: ‘I’ve got respect for Dimi and how hard he works, but when we get up on stage that goes out of the window.

‘A lot of people said that he wouldn’t be able to handle Blackpool – including me – and he has, so hats off to him.

Mic