Gerwyn Price: Anyone Can Beat Anybody In The Nordic Masters

The World Series of Darts continues this weekend as the Mr Vegas Nordic Masters gets underway in Copenhagen.

Two-time World Champion Gerwyn Price will be looking to defend his title after he beat Rob Cross in the final 12 months ago.

Friday's first round will see stars such as Price, Luke Littler and Luke Humphries, face off against some of the biggest names in Scandinavian darts for a place in finals night on Saturday.

With the reigning champion poised to take centre stage once again, he spoke to Gambling.com ahead of the action.

Dekker Awaits Defending Champ

The Welshman will begin his bid for back-to-back Nordic Darts Masters titles against Norway’s World Cup star Cor Dekker, who only secured his PDC Tour Card in January.

Dekker qualified for his first event on the European Tour in 2019 and has subsequently become a star of the game in Scandinavia.

The two-time tournament winner is the first Norwegian to make it onto the PDC Tour.

He was also the first Norwegian player to hit a nine-dart finish at the 2024 Hungarian Darts Trophy in Budapest, and Price is very much looking forward to the challenge.

“It's always good to go back to any venue as defending champion,” he said.

“So it'll be good to get back there and I am in some good form." 

Price Has His Work Cut Out

Price beat Cross to win the Nordic Masters in Copenhagen a year ago.

He raced into a 4-0 lead and went into the first break 5-1 up, and despite Cross pulling it back to 5-4, Price was too strong, eventually claiming the 8-5 victory.

But the champion believes he will have his work cut out if he’s going to repeat his achievement of 2024.

“It doesn't matter what tournament you’re playing, every game is going to be tough, so to beat Rob in the final was great,” he said.

“He’s a great player and a great friend, but any tournament you win you need to play well.

“I'm going to have to beat some good players along the way.”

Shocks Could Be On The Cards

Eight PDC superstars will take on the eight Nordic and Baltic representatives looking to advance to the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final, which take place during a blockbuster session on Saturday.

World Champion and tournament favourite with betting sites Littler plays Swedish newcomer Viktor Tingstrom in a battle of Nordic Darts Masters debutants, with the world number two having missed last year's event.

Another stand-out tie will see top seed and Bahrain Darts Masters champion, Stephen Bunting, open his challenge against Sweden’s World Cup quarter-finalist Oskar Lukasiak.

Meanwhile, 2024 runner-up Cross will also face Swedish opposition in Andreas Harrysson, who enjoyed a run to the last 16 of the European Darts Open in Leverkusen last weekend.

With so many new faces taking to the stage, Price believes it's possible that we could see a few upsets at the weekend.

“I haven't really looked at who the qualifiers are, so I wouldn't know,” he said. 

“But the standard of darts at the minute means anybody can come from anywhere and beat anyone. 

“So, there's no reason why not.”