The TOTO Dutch Open Darts 2024 officially started on Thursday morning with the warming-up tournaments for men and women. Luitzen Elzinga and Noa-Lynn van Leuven took the titles and started the weekend excellent in the Bonte Wever in Assen.

Men

More than 650 men started the warming-up tournament on Thursday morning, including several PDC tour ticket holders who were allowed to participate as it was not live streamed. For Geert Nentjes, Danny van Trijp and Berry van Peer the tournament was already over befor the last 128. Patrick van den Boogaard, Jarno Bottenberg and Moreno Blom also had no success and lost early in the tournament.

Jurjen van der Velde was the remaining tour card holder who performed well in Assen. With victories over Nigel van Milligen, Benjamin van Erven and Gerko Tibbe, he reached the quarter-finals, where he met defending champion Wesley Plaisier. He recorded averages of 97, 104 and 98 in his last three matches on the way to the quarter-finals. After a 2-0 lead from Van der Velde, Plaisier managed to win the match 4-2, partly thanks to a great 132 finish. He was also the favorite in the semi-finals, but was surprised. The Frisian Luitzen Elzinga defeated him in a decisive leg.

Elzinga was allowed to compete against Tonny Veenhof in the final. On the way to the final, he was too strong for Jeffrey Mevangen (3-1), Kevin Mast (4-1) and Mike van Leeuwen (4-2). Elzinga started the final very strongly, with finishes of 68 and 78 he took the first two legs. In the third and fourth legs, both men missed some doubles, splitting the legs for a 3-1 lead. Elzinga then held his own leg with an 18-darter and thus also reached match point; 4-1. The remaining two legs went with the darts, allowing Elzinga to win the final 5-2 in 16 darts. An excellent start to the weekend for the Frisian.

Semi finals
Luitzen Elzinga 4-3 Wesley Plaisier
Tonny Veenhof 4-2 Mike van Leeuwen

Final
Luitzen Elzinga 5-2 Tonny Veenhof

Women

A total of 67 women started the women’s warm-up tournament on Thursday morning. Immediately early in the tournament, two top players in women’s darts faced each other. In the last 32, Anca Zijlstra defeated Rhian O’Sullivan 3-1 and then also advanced to the semi-finals. She was defeated 3-1 by Sabrina Dikhoff-Jongenotter, who reached the final on the opening day.

She met Noa-Lynn van Leuven there. She also reached the final with victories over Nathalie van Marm (3-1), Lerena Rietbergen (3-2, 90 average) and Anna Votavova (3-1). Dikhoff-Jongenotter started the final strongly by holding her own leg with a 70 finish. Van Leuven then took the initiative by winning three legs in a row with finishes of 80, 72 and 115 for a 3-1 lead. Dikhoff-Jongenotter still held her own leg in 18 darts, but saw Van Leuven take the victory via tops in the sixth leg!

Semi finals
Sabrina Dikhoff-Jongenotter 3-1 Anca Zijlstra
Noa-Lynn van Leuven 3-1 Anna Votavova

Final
Noa-Lynn van Leuven 4-2 Sabrina Dikhoff-Jongenotter

Foto: Jenny Segers