Taylor Edges Anderson For PC9 Win

PHIL TAYLOR picked up his first Players Championship victory of 2015 as he defeated World Champion Gary Anderson 6-4 in the final of Saturday's event in Crawley.

Taylor, making his first appearance on the PDC ProTour since February, continued the form which saw him end the Betway Premier League season on a high with a big win over James Wade on Thursday by scooping the £10,000 first prize at the K2 Centre 48 hours later.

After opening with a 6-2 defeat of Darren Webster, Taylor whitewashed Austrian youngster Rowby-John Rodriguez, knocked out Peter Wright and then defeated emerging Dutchman Dirk van Duijvenbode to reach the quarter-finals.

There, he defeated Welsh ace Gerwyn Price 6-2 before edging past world number six Wade 6-5 in the semi-finals, although the left-hander hit back from 5-3 down to take the game all the way to a decider.

The final also looked to be heading the distance when the pair shared the game's opening eight legs, but Taylor crucially pulled away for the win.

Anderson bounced back from losing the final's opening leg against the darts to a Taylor 14-darter, which featured a 180, as he landed maximums in the next two as he posted legs of 15 and 14 darts to lead.

Taylor took out 128 in the fourth to level with a superb 12-dart finish, and Anderson would fire in a 12-darter of his own as the next four were shared to leave the scores locked at four-all when the Stoke ace made his killer move.

He firstly punished Anderson for failing to finish 70 in the ninth leg by taking out 76 to break throw and move 5-4 up, before sealing victory in the next with a 13-darter.

Anderson's run to the final saw him produce some exceptional darts of his own, not least in his semi-final whitewash of world number one Michael van Gerwen.

He also hit nine 180s in as many legs in his quarter-final win over James Wilson as he averaged 114 for the second time on the day, following an earlier win over Josh Payne, and he also overcame Robbie Green, Matthew Edgar and Terry Jenkins with the aid of six maximums per match.

World number one van Gerwen was unable to claim his 11th tournament win of 2015, but he defeated Jason Lovett, Eddie Dootson, Kevin Painter, Jamie Bain and Dutch compatriot Vincent van der Voort as he reached the last four.

Wade's run of fine form also continued as he saw off Ken MacNeil, Steve West, Mark Webster, Dave Chisnall and Mervyn King to reach the semi-finals - meaning he has now reached at least the quarter-finals of eight successive events in the past two months.

James Wilson won through to his first quarter-final since joining the PDC circuit in January by defeating Steve Brown, Michael Smith, Jamie Lewis and Darren Johnson before being overpowered by Anderson.

Van der Voort came within a leg of reaching the semi-finals before he lost out to van Gerwen, while Welsh ace Price and King were also amongst the losers at the last eight stage.

Betway Premier League semi-finalist Dave Chisnall won through to the last 16 on the day, alongside top 16 rivals Terry Jenkins and Simon Whitlock, Andy Hamilton, Jamie Bain, Darren Johnson, Ronny Huybrechts and Dirk van Duijvenbode.

The Players Championship double-header in Crawley concludes on Sunday with a second £60,000 tournament as 128 players face off for the title.

NB: From the original entries, Raymond van Barneveld and Paul Nicholson have withdrawn, and been replaced by Matt Clark and Kevin Bambrick.

Players Championship Nine
Saturday May 16, K2 Centre, Crawley
First Round
Michael van Gerwen (1) 6-3 Jason Lovett
Eddie Dootson 6-5 Colin Lloyd
Kevin Painter (32) 6-4 Daryl Gurney
Gary Stone 6-1 Jason Marriott
Jamie Bain 6-5 Steve Beaton (16)
Nigel Heydon 6-5 Jan Dekker
Lee Palfreyman 6-5 Jamie Caven (17)
Joey Ten Berge 6-5 Mark Walsh
Vincent van der Voort (8) 6-5 Stephen Willard
Tim Martin 6-4 Ronnie Baxter
Andrew Gilding (25) 6-2 Mark Dudbridge
Connie Finnan 6-4 Aden Kirk
Ian White (9) 6-1 Shaun Griffiths
Jeffrey De Zwaan 6-3 Kirk Shepherd
Andy Hamilton (24) 6-4 Matt Padgett
Johnny Haines 6-4 Mark Frost
Michael Smith (5) 6-3 William O'Connor
James Wilson 6-3 Steve Brown
Jamie Lewis (28) 6-1 Stuart Harding
Adam Hunt 6-1 Kevin Bambrick
Robert Thornton (12) 6-2 Jay Foreman
Darren Johnson 6-1 Barrie Bates
Mensur Suljovic (21) 6-2 Kevin Thomas
Jim Walker 6-4 Nick Fullwell
Gary Anderson (4) 6-1 Robbie Green
Matthew Edgar 6-3 Curtis Hammond
Josh Payne 6-3 Andy Smith (29)
Max Hopp 6-4 Christian Kist
Terry Jenkins (13) 6-2 Prakash Jiwa
Alan Norris 6-1 Tony Newell
Jelle Klaasen (20) 6-4 Mick Todd
Roxy-James Rodriguez 6-2 Joe Cullen
James Wade (2) 6-1 Ken MacNeil
Steve West 6-5 Steve Hine
Mark Webster (31) 6-2 Nathan Derry
Andy Boulton 6-3 Dimitri Van den Bergh
Dave Chisnall (15) 6-3 Ben Ward
Mickey Mansell 6-3 Matt Clark
Benito van de Pas (18) 6-3 Tomas Seyler
John Bowles 6-4 Mark Barilli
Simon Whitlock (7) 6-0 Luke Woodhouse
Ross Smith 6-2 Jyhan Artut
Magnus Caris 6-4 Dean Winstanley (26)
Paul Milford 6-3 Ricky Evans
Mervyn King (10) 6-4 Dave Ladley
Alan Tabern 6-2 Jermaine Wattimena
John Henderson (23) 6-1 Nathan Aspinall
Michael Barnard 6-3 Wes Newton
Brendan Dolan (6) 6-4 Devon Petersen
Stuart Kellett 6-5 Terry Temple
Keegan Brown (27) 6-1 Mike Zuydwijk
Ronny Huybrechts 6-4 Conan Whitehead
Justin Pipe (11) 6-1 Dennis Smith
Pete Dyos 6-4 Ian Moss
Gerwyn Price (22) 6-0 Joe Murnan
Andy Jenkins 6-3 Jamie Robinson
Peter Wright (3) 6-2 Brian Woods
John Part 6-3 Steve Douglas
Phil Taylor (30) 6-2 Darren Webster
Rowby-John Rodriguez 6-5 Kevin McDine
Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-5 Kim Huybrechts (14)
Cristo Reyes 6-1 David Pallett
Wayne Jones 6-4 Stephen Bunting (19)
Steve McNally 6-3 Jonny Clayton

Second Round
Michael van Gerwen 6-2 Eddie Dootson
Kevin Painter 6-4 Gary Stone
Jamie Bain 6-0 Nigel Heydon
Lee Palfreyman 6-2 Joey Ten Berge
Vincent van der Voort 6-2 Tim Martin
Connie Finnan 6-5 Andrew Gilding
Ian White 6-5 Jeffrey De Zwaan
Andy Hamilton 6-3 Johnny Haines
James Wilson 6-2 Michael Smith
Jamie Lewis 6-2 Adam Hunt
Darren Johnson 6-1 Robert Thornton
Mensur Suljovic 6-3 Jim Walker
Gary Anderson 6-2 Matthew Edgar
Josh Payne 6-3 Max Hopp
Terry Jenkins 6-5 Alan Norris
Jelle Klaasen 6-1 Roxy-James Rodriguez
James Wade 6-4 Steve West
Mark Webster 6-1 Andy Boulton
Dave Chisnall 6-1 Mickey Mansell
John Bowles 6-5 Benito van de Pas
Simon Whitlock 6-1 Ross Smith
Paul Milford 6-2 Magnus Caris
Mervyn King 6-1 Alan Tabern
John Henderson 6-5 Michael Barnard
Stuart Kellett 6-2 Brendan Dolan
Ronny Huybrechts 6-5 Keegan Brown
Justin Pipe 6-3 Pete Dyos
Gerwyn Price 6-3 Andy Jenkins
Peter Wright 6-1 John Part
Phil Taylor 6-0 Rowby-John Rodriguez
Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-4 Cristo Reyes
Wayne Jones 6-1 Stephen McNally
Losers £250

Third Round
Michael van Gerwen 6-4 Kevin Painter
Jamie Bain 6-3 Lee Palfreyman
Vincent van der Voort 6-4 Connie Finnan
Andy Hamilton 6-2 Ian White
James Wilson 6-2 Jamie Lewis
Darren Johnson 6-1 Mensur Suljovic
Gary Anderson 6-0 Josh Payne
Terry Jenkins 6-1 Jelle Klaasen
James Wade 6-3 Mark Webster
Dave Chisnall 6-4 John Bowles
Simon Whitlock 6-2 Paul Milford
Mervyn King 6-5 John Henderson
Ronny Huybrechts 6-1 Stuart Kellett
Gerwyn Price 6-3 Justin Pipe
Phil Taylor 6-4 Peter Wright
Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-2 Wayne Jones
Losers £750

Fourth Round
Michael van Gerwen 6-4 Jamie Bain
Vincent van der Voort 6-0 Andy Hamilton
James Wilson 6-3 Darren Johnson
Gary Anderson 6-5 Terry Jenkins
James Wade 6-3 Dave Chisnall
Mervyn King 6-3 Simon Whitlock
Gerwyn Price 6-5 Ronny Huybrechts
Phil Taylor 6-2 Dirk van Duijvenbode
Losers £1,500

Quarter-Finals
Michael van Gerwen 6-5 Vincent van der Voort
Gary Anderson 6-3 James Wilson
James Wade 6-3 Mervyn King
Phil Taylor 6-2 Gerwyn Price
Losers £2,000

Semi-Finals
Gary Anderson 6-0 Michael van Gerwen
Phil Taylor 6-5 James Wade
Losers £2,500

Final
Phil Taylor 6-4 Gary Anderson
Winner £10,000
Runner-Up £5,000

Match Stats