Mike De Decker advanced to the second round of the Poland Darts Open in Krakow on Friday evening, but his 6-4 victory over Euro Tour debutant Marvin Kraft was far from convincing. The Belgian averaged a modest 84 in a match that saw him struggle to close out despite building a 4-1 lead. De Decker needed 20 darts to hold his opening leg, then broke with a 12-darter, only for Kraft to hit back immediately with a 78 checkout and break back for 2-1.
After recovering to stretch his advantage to 4-1, De Decker reached match point at 5-2, but Kraft battled back with two consecutive legs to trail 5-4. The German's resistance was finally ended by a 16-darter from De Decker, who sealed the win. His reward is a second-round meeting with two-time world champion Luke Littler, a match that will require a significant step up in level.
De Decker can take heart from a recent near-miss against Littler at the Winmau World Masters, where he missed a match dart at double 11 to knock the world number one out of the tournament. "I'm never gonna put myself on double 11 again," De Decker joked to Tungsten Tales. "No, it was a good game. If you get a match dart against the world number one and the player whose been dominating the sport for the past two years, you're doing a good job."
The former World Grand Prix champion added: "Hopefully I do that again, but we'll worry about that tomorrow (Saturday)." However, De Decker revealed he plans to keep his pre-match comments in check, stating: "I'm not going to speak out because then he'll be fired up, and I don't want him to be fired up. We'll see."
