Michael van Gerwen has vowed to bounce back from his William Hill World Darts Championship exit to Dave Chisnall.
The Dutchman saw his bid for a fourth World Championship title ended by an outstanding Chisnall performance on New Year's Day, as the Morecambe man inflicted a stunning 5-0 defeat on the top seed.
Van Gerwen's average of 98.29 was his lowest of the tournament, and his 7/16 checkout ratio was also his lowest percentage as Chisnall punished the world number one in a ruthless display.
The defeat was Van Gerwen's first to Chisnall in 28 meetings, and also leaves his position as world number one in jeopardy, with Gerwyn Price able to take over atop the PDC Order of Merit if he scoops the £500,000 title on Sunday.
Speaking to Sky Sports following Friday's defeat, Van Gerwen praised Chisnall's performance but also admitted that he will analyse his own performance in the coming days.
"It was a difficult match," said Van Gerwen. "You know when Dave Chisnall's in form you have to work really hard if you're going to beat him. I didn't really show up, my scoring power wasn't there.
"I only can blame myself for this and no-one else. Dave took every opportunity he had to make it as difficult as possible for me and fair play to him, but I let myself down a bit.
"I'm gutted, but what can you do? It's something to think about in the next few days.
"It is the best he ever played, I know that. Every opportunity he had, he took and fair play to him. Today I need to admit I wasn't there and say well done to Dave.
"I was looking to my stats and it's nothing like my game. I need to reflect back a little bit on this game, because you need to think where did things go wrong, and where it didn't go wrong.
"The only thing that wasn't too bad was my doubles, but if you score that bad against someone who's playing really well, like Dave, then you only can blame yourself.
"Of course it hurts, and of course I wanted to do a lot more in this tournament, but that's the price you pay when you lose.
"I know what I'm capable of and today for some reason it didn't click, it wasn't there, but I will be back."
? "When you're a winner, you have to stand in front of the microphone as well and when you lose you have to do it as well."
— Sky Sports Darts (@SkySportsDarts) January 1, 2021
Michael van Gerwen shows true class in defeat, and he's full of praise for Dave Chisnall ?
#⃣ #WHDarts #LoveTheDarts pic.twitter.com/rzlbNdKXEw
Van Gerwen had defeated Ryan Murray, Ricky Evans and Joe Cullen on his way to the last eight, surviving missed match darts in the latter of those victories but also being pushed in each contest.
He added: "Everyone, from the first round until today, played probably better than I ever saw them play [before] and then I need to make sure I go back to the practice board and make sure I get back for the next tournament.
"This hurts me. Losing is always a negative, if you lose 5-0, 5-1, 5-4 it doesn't matter. If you lose, you lose. You always need to think about where it went wrong and make sure I try to get better for the next time.
"That has to be done in the next few days."
Global coverage of the William Hill World Darts Championship tournament is headlined by the dedicated Sky Sports Darts channel, while the PDC's international broadcast partners will include RTL7 in the Netherlands, DAZN in various territories, Fox Sports in Australia, Sky Sport in New Zealand, PDCTV for Rest of the World Subscribers and at matchroom.live.
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2020/21 William Hill World Darts Championship
Friday January 1
Afternoon Session
2x Quarter-Finals
Stephen Bunting 5-3 Krzysztof Ratajski
Gary Anderson 5-1 Dirk Van Duijvenbode
Evening Session
2x Quarter-Finals
Gerwyn Price 5-4 Daryl Gurney
Dave Chisnall 5-0 Michael van Gerwen
Saturday January 2 (1800 GMT)
Semi-Finals
Stephen Bunting v Gerwyn Price
Dave Chisnall v Gary Anderson
Best of 11 sets