Andy Baetens (born 24 February 1989) is a Belgian professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He is a former WDF World Champion, having won the 2023 World Championship to become the first Belgian player to win a world title. Baetens is also a four-time winner of the Czech Open and the 2023 Australian Darts Open champion. He was also the runner-up at the 2023 Dutch Open and a bronze medalist at the 2022 WDF Europe Cup. From May 2023 to January 2024, he was ranked number one in the World Darts Federation men's ranking.

Career

Baetens 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]

Baetens qualified for the 2025 PDC World Masters after defeating Darius Labanauskas in the final preliminary round.[7] He lost 3–0 to world champion Luke Littler in the first round.[8]

Career finals

WDF major finals: 1 (1 title)

Legend
World Championship (1–0)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score[N 1]
Winner 1. 2023 World Darts Championship Netherlands Chris Landman 6–1 (s)
  1. ^ (l) = score in legs, (s) = score in sets.

World Championship results

BDO/WDF

Performance timeline

Tournament 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
PDC Ranked televised events
PDC World Masters Non-PDC DNQ 1R
UK Open Did not play 2R
BDO/WDF Ranked televised events
WDF World Championship DNQ QF DNQ NH QF W PDC
BDO World Trophy DNQ 2R DNQ Not held
Winmau World Masters DNQ NH 4R NH PDC
Zuiderduin Masters RR RR DNP Not held
Australian Darts Open NH DNP NH DNP W NH PDC
Dutch Open Non-ranked QF NH 7R F PDC
Career statistics
PDC Season-end ranking - - - - - - 191 176 95
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

References

  1. ^ "PDC Order of Merit". PDPA. 11 February 2025. Retrieved 11 February 2025.
  2. ^ "Baetens hits third highest ever Lakeside average in Marsh win, Tricole ends Hine's run". Dartsnews.com. 7 April 2022. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
  3. ^ Gill, Samuel (2 May 2023). "Baetens succeeds Klaasen as number one in WDF rankings". Dartsnews.com. Retrieved 6 January 2025.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ "Brilliant Baetens beats Landman to become Belgium's first Darts World Champion". World Darts Federation. 10 December 2023. Retrieved 6 January 2025.
  6. ^ "Baetens & Bennett become latest duo to secure Tour Cards". www.pdc.tv. 13 January 2024. Retrieved 19 January 2024.
  7. ^ Van Genechten, Vincent (29 January 2025). "Andy Baetens plaatst zich met verve voor vernieuwde World Darts Masters en neemt het op tegen wereldkampioen Luke Littler" [Andy Baetens qualifies with flying colours for the revived World Darts Masters and takes on world champion Luke Littler]. Het Nieuwsblad (in Dutch). Retrieved 31 January 2025.
  8. ^ "Littler cruises into second round at World Masters". BBC Sport. 31 January 2025. Retrieved 31 January 2025.
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