WORLD darts champion Scott Mitchell insists his luck will turn after a pair of close calls in the HAL Masters and Open in the Netherlands this weekend.

Mitchell beat Dutchman Jeffrey Sparidaans (4-2) and Latvian Darius Labanauskas (4-2) in the Masters but narrowly lost out 5-4 to Belgian underdog Roger Janssen, who went on to beat Jeffrey de Graaf in the final.

'Scotty Dog' made light work of Herrald Koetzier (3-0), Henry Smit (4-2), Eimardo van Engelen (4-0), Kristiaan de Boer (4-0) and Richie Edwards (4-1) en route to the last 16 of the Open but Labanauskas avenged his defeat to the world champion with a 4-2 success.

Mitchell told the Daily Echo: "Both defeats were tight. I had been bossing the game against Roger and had a leg where I went 100, 180, 180 but missed the 41 shot out. He landed a 144 which turned the game on its head.

"With that momentum he won the match and went on to take the title. I had not heard much about him before but that is the beauty of the BDO, you can come up against talented guys from all over the place.

"Darius was at Lakeside this year so I knew he would be a very competitive opponent. At two up I missed three darts at a double to get within a leg of winning it and he popped up with an 80 shot out.

"From there he was unstoppable, checking out the next three in fewer than 15 darts. You can't do a lot about it when they play that well, you just have to sit back, admire what they're doing and enjoy the ride really."

Mitchell continued: "I am playing really well but the other guys tend to step it up against you. Darius played out of his skin and then lost his next game.

"That is the kind of thing I am having to face now but I cannot worry about that, I just need to keep my game going, stay as consistent as I can. That will win the day eventually."