Andy Baetens (born 24 February 1989) is a Belgian professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He is a former World Champion, having won the 2023 WDF World Darts Championship to become the first Belgian player to win a world title. Baetens is also a four-time winner of the Czech Open and bronze medalist of the WDF Europe Cup. From May 2023 to January 2024, he was the leader of the World Darts Federation men's ranking.
| Andy Baetens | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Baetens in 2022 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname | "The Beast from the East" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 24 February 1989 Nieuwerkerken, East Flanders, Belgium | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Home town | Erembodegem, East Flanders, Belgium | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Darts information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Playing darts since | 2014 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Darts | Datadart Orion 23g | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Laterality | Right-handed | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Walk-on music | "Kernkraft 400" by Zombie Nation | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Organisation (see split in darts) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| BDO | 2014–2020 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| PDC | 2024– (Tour Card: 2024–) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| WDF | 2014–2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Current world ranking | 95  4 (3 January 2025)[1] (PDC) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| WDF major events – best performances | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| World Ch'ship | Winner (1): 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| World Masters | Last 32: 2022 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| World Trophy | Last 16: 2018 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Finder Masters | Last 24: 2016, 2017 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Australian Open | Winner (1): 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dutch Open | Runner Up: 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| PDC premier events – best performances | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UK Open | Last 128: 2024 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other tournament wins | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Career
editBaetens took part in his first international tournaments shortly after he started playing darts. He reached the quarter-finals at the 2015 Antwerp Open. In 2016, he reached the quarter-finals of the Polish Open. With his final victory over Darryl Fitton at the 2016 Czech Open, Baetens was able to win his first title in the British Darts Organisation (BDO) before he finally made his breakthrough on the tour in 2017.
By winning the Romanian Classic, Belgium Masters and England Masters, Baetens was able to qualify for his first BDO World Darts Championship at the 2018 event. He also reached the semi-finals of the German Masters and the final of the Denmark Open. At the 2018 BDO World Championship, he entered the tournament in 13th place on the seeding list and defeated Scott Baker in the first round. In second round, he defeated Scott Mitchell 4–2 in sets. In the quarter-finals, Baetens missed six match darts and lost to Scott Waites 5–4.
Baetens returned to international tournaments at the 2020 Dutch Open, where he made the quarter-finals. He beat Dirk van Duijvenbode and Mario Vandenbogaerde before being eliminated by Brian Raman in a deciding leg in their quarter-final match. In September 2021, he won the Catalonia Open and FCD Anniversary Open. In November 2021, he won the Czech Open for a second time.
In April 2022, he played at the 2022 WDF World Darts Championship. In the first round he beat Dave Parletti 3–1. In the second round he beat Scott Marsh. His three-dart average for the match of 102.79 was the third highest ever at the Lakeside.[2] In the quarter-finals he played Thibault Tricole and lost 4–3.
At the end of September, Baetens qualified for the 2022 Belgian Darts Open via the Host Nation Qualifier, but lost in the first round to Madars Razma. After a few weeks, Baetens won a title at the Bruges Open. In November 2022, he won the Czech Open for the third time, defeating Antony Allen 5–0 in the final. He qualified for the 2022 World Masters, where he reached the fourth round.
In May 2023, Baetens became the new number one ranked player on the WDF World Rankings.[3]
At the 2023 WDF World Championship, he defeated Sebastian Białecki, Gary Stone and Jonny Tata to the reach his first world championship semi-final, the first for a Belgian at the Lakeside. He then beat Dennis Nilsson to become the first Belgian in a world darts championship final. In the final, he beat Chris Landman to win his first world title.[4][5]
In January 2024, Baetens entered PDC European Q-School, earning an automatic two-year PDC Tour Card following victory in the final on day three of the second stage.[6]
Career finals
editWDF major finals: 1 (1 title)
edit| Legend |
|---|
| World Championship (1–0) |
| Outcome | No. | Year | Championship | Opponent in the final | Score[N 1] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winner | 1. | 2023 | World Darts Championship |  Chris Landman
|
6–1 (s) |
- ^ (l) = score in legs, (s) = score in sets.
World Championship results
editBDO/WDF
edit- 2018: Quarter-finals (lost to Scott Waites 4–5)
- 2022: Quarter-finals (lost to Thibault Tricole 3–4)
- 2023: Winner (beat Chris Landman 6–1)
Performance timeline
edit| Tournament | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PDC Ranked televised events | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UK Open | DNP | 2R | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| BDO/WDF Ranked televised events | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| BDO World Championship | DNQ | QF | DNQ | Defunct | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| WDF World Championship | Not established | QF | W | PDC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| World Darts Trophy | DNQ | 2R | DNQ | NH | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Winmau World Masters | DNQ | NH | 4R | NH | PDC | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Zuiderduin Masters | RR | RR | DNP | NH | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Australian Darts Open | NH | DNP | NH | DNP | W | NH | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dutch Open | Non-ranked | QF | NH | 7R | F | PDC | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| PDC Year-end ranking | - | - | - | - | - | - | 191 | 176 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| WDF Year-end ranking | - | - | - | - | - | 8 | 5 | 1 | - | |||||||||||||||||||
PDC European Tour
| Season | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | IDO DNP |
GDC DNP |
GDG DNP |
ADO DNP |
EDO DNP |
CDO DNP |
EDG DNP |
DDC DNP |
EDM DNP |
HDT DNP |
GDO DNP |
BDO 1R |
GDT DNP |
| 2023 | BSD DNP |
EDO DNP |
IDO DNP |
GDG DNP |
ADO DNP |
DDC DNP |
BDO 3R |
CDO DNP |
EDG DNP |
EDM DNP |
GDO DNP |
HDT DNP |
GDC DNP |
| 2024 | BDO DNQ |
GDG DNQ |
IDO DNQ |
EDG DNQ |
ADO DNQ |
BSD 2R |
DDC DNQ |
EDO 2R |
GDC DNQ |
FDT DNQ |
HDT DNQ |
SDT DNQ |
CDO DNQ |
PDC Players Championships
| Season | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | WIG 3R |
WIG 4R |
LEI 1R |
LEI 2R |
HIL 1R |
HIL 1R |
LEI 1R |
LEI 2R |
HIL 2R |
HIL 2R |
HIL 2R |
HIL 4R |
MIL 1R |
MIL 2R |
MIL 3R |
MIL 1R |
MIL 1R |
MIL 2R |
MIL 1R |
WIG 1R |
WIG 2R |
MIL 1R |
MIL 1R |
WIG 2R |
WIG 1R |
WIG 1R |
WIG 1R |
WIG 1R |
LEI 1R |
LEI 3R |
| Performance Table Legend | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | Won the tournament | F | Finalist | SF | Semifinalist | QF | Quarterfinalist | #R RR L# |
Lost in # round Round-robin Last # stage |
DQ | Disqualified |
| DNQ | Did not qualify | DNP | Did not participate | WD | Withdrew | NH | Tournament not held | NYF | Not yet founded | ||
External links
editReferences
edit- ^ "PDC Order of Merit". PDPA. 3 January 2025. Retrieved 3 January 2025.
- ^ "Baetens hits third highest ever Lakeside average in Marsh win, Tricole ends Hine's run". Dartsnews.com. 7 April 2022. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
- ^ Gill, Samuel (2 May 2023). "Baetens succeeds Klaasen as number one in WDF rankings". Dartsnews.com. Retrieved 6 January 2025.
- ^ Shaw, Jamie (10 December 2023). "Andy Baetens claims historic Lakeside crown as Beau Greaves retains women's world title". Live Darts. Retrieved 6 January 2025.
- ^ "Brilliant Baetens beats Landman to become Belgium's first Darts World Champion". World Darts Federation. 10 December 2023. Retrieved 6 January 2025.
- ^ "Baetens & Bennett become latest duo to secure Tour Cards". www.pdc.tv. 13 January 2024. Retrieved 19 January 2024.
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