Andy Baetens (born 24 February 1989) is a Belgian professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and World Darts Federation (WDF) events. He won the WDF World Championip in 2023 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. 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.
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.
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.
Baetens qualified for the 2025 PDC World Masters after defeating Darius Labanauskas in the final preliminary round. He lost 3–0 to world champion Luke Littler in the first round.
Career finals WDF major finals: 1 (1 title) Legend World Championship (1–0)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score(l) = score in legs, (s) = score in sets.Winner 1. 2023 World Championship Chris Landman6–1 (s)
World Championship results BDO 2018: Quarter-finals (lost to Scott Waites 4–5) (sets) WDF 2022: Quarter-finals (lost to Thibault Tricole 3–4) (sets) 2023: Winner (beat Chris Landman 6–1)
PDC 2026: First round (lost to Dirk van Duijvenbode 2–3)
Performance timeline BDO Tournament 2016 2017 2018BDO Ranked televised events World ChampionshipDNQ QF World TrophyDNQ 2R Finde Masters DNP
WDF Tournament 2017 2018 2020 2022 2023 2026WDF Ranked major/platinum events Not held QF W Australian OpenNot heldDNP World MastersDNQNH 4RNH Dutch OpenA non-ranked event until 2020 3R 7R F WDF Year-end ranking–5 1
PDC Tournament 2024 2025 2026PDC Ranked televised events World ChampionshipDNQ A non-ranked event until 2025DNQ1RDNQUK Open2R2RDNQCareer statisticsSeason-end ranking (PDC)9578
PDC European Tour Season 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 2022Did not participateBDO1RGDTDNP 2023Did not participateBDO3RDid not participate 2024DNQBSD2RDDCDNQEDO2RDid not qualify 2025Did not qualifyBSD3RDid not qualify 2026DNPBDOQFDid not participateFDT2RDNP
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 31 32 33 34 2024WIG3RWIG4RLEI1RLEI2RHIL1RHIL1RLEI1RLEI2RHIL2RHIL2RHIL2RHIL4RMIL1RMIL2RMIL3RMIL1RMIL1RMIL2RMIL1RWIG1RWIG2RMIL1RMIL1RWIG2RWIG1RWIG1RWIG1RWIG1RLEI1RLEI3R 2025WIG1RWIG1RROS1RROS2RLEI2RLEI1RHIL2RHIL1RLEI3RLEI1RLEI1RLEI1RROS3RROS1RHIL1RHIL1RLEI1RLEI1RLEI1RLEI1RLEI3RHIL1RHIL4RMIL2RMIL1RHIL4RHIL2RLEI1RLEI3RLEI3RWIG1RWIG1RWIG1RWIG1R
Notes
References
External links Andy Baetens' profile and stats on Darts Database