Andy Baetens

**Andy Baetens** (born 24 February 1989) is a Belgian professional darts player who currently plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Three-time winner of the Czech Open and a multiple winner of other international tournaments. Bronze medalist of the WDF Europe Cup. He qualified three times for the WDF World Darts Championship. Since May 2023 he has been the leader of the World Darts Federation men's ranking.

## Career

Baetens took part in the first international tournaments shortly after he start playing darts. He advanced to the quarter-finals at the Antwerp Open during 2015 edition. In 2016, he advanced to the quarter-finals of the Polish Open. With his final victory over Darryl Fitton at the Czech Open in 2016, Baetens was able to win his first major title before he finally made his breakthrough on the tour in 2017.

With the Romanian Classic, the Belgium Masters and the England Masters, Baetens won three World Darts Federation tournaments and was able to qualify for his first 2018 BDO World Darts Championship. He also reached the semi-finals of the German Masters and the final of the Denmark Open. At the 2018 BDO World Darts Championship, he entered the tournament in 13th place on the seeding list and defeated Scott Baker in the first round. In second round he surprisingly defeated Scott Mitchell by 2–4 in sets. In the quarter-finals, Baetens missed six match darts and lost to Scott Waites by 5–4 in sets.

Baetens back to international tournaments at the 2020 Dutch Open, where he advanced to the quarter-finals. He beat Dirk van Duijvenbode and Mario Vandenbogaerde, until Brian Raman stopped him in the deciding leg of the quarter-finals match. In September 2021, he won the Catalonia Open and FCD Anniversary Open. In November 2021, he took victory at 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 by 3–1 in sets. In the second round he beat Scott Marsh. His avarage for the match of 102.79 was the third highest in the history at the Lakeside Country Club. In the quarter-finals he played against Thibault Tricole and finally lost by 3–4 in sets.

At the end of September, Baetens qualified for the 2022 Belgian Darts Open via the Host Nation Qualifier. There he lost in the first round match against Madars Razma. After few weeks, Baetens won a title at the Bruges Open. In November 2022, he won Czech Open for the third time. In the final duel against Antony Allen, he beat him by 5–0 in legs. He qualified for the 2022 World Masters and for the 2023 WDF World Darts Championship. During World Masters, he advanced to fourth round where he lost to Davy Proosten by 4–5 in legs.

In 2023, during PDC Q-School tournament, Baetens narrowly missed a PDC Tour Card. At the end of January he lost final match in the 2023 Dutch Open to Berry van Peer. In April, he won Croatian Open and Croatian Masters. In May, he won Denmark Open and Denmark Masters and took first place in the World Darts Federation ranking as a third Belgian player in history after Leo Laurens and Brian Raman. Few days later he won qualification tournament for 2023 Belgian Darts Open. There he defeated Jermaine Wattimena in first round and followed that by win over Andrew Gilding. In third round he lost in decider leg to Luke Humphries. At the end of August, he secured victory at the Australian Open.

At the beginning of October, he won Bruges Open and Belfry Open. In November, he once again advanced to the final phase of Czech Open and won this tournament for the fourth time in his career and third time in a row, defeating Andreas Harrysson in the final match by 5–1 in legs. In total, he won eight international World Darts Federation tournaments this year. He goes to the 2023 WDF World Darts Championship as the favorite,On the 10th December 2023, He became WDF World Champion beating Chris Landman 6-1 with a 93 average to become the first World Champion from Belgium, Baetens is expected to go to Q-School in January 2024.

## World Championship results

### BDO/WDF

* 2018: Quarter-finals (lost to Scott Waites 4–5) (sets)
* 2022: Quarter-finals (lost to Thibault Tricole 3–4)
* 2023: **Winner** (beat Chris Landman 6–1)

## References

1. ↑ Baetens hits third highest ever Lakeside average in Marsh win, Tricole ends Hine's run (en) (2022-04-07).