ADRIAN LEWIS clinched his first ProTour title of the year as he produced a superb display to beat Dave Chisnall 6-2 and win Players Championship Five at Arena MK in Milton Keynes.
Lewis kicked off the final with some audacious darts and landed a breath-taking 164 checkout to storm into a 2-0 lead. He then moved three ahead before Chisnall got a foothold in the game.
Despite a spirited response, St Helens star Chisnall was rarely in the final as the two-time World Champion produced some of his strongest darts.
A neat 122 checkout from Chisnall gave him a chink of light but he was unable to claw back against his Stoke counterpart, who missed double 12 for a nine-dart finish in what proved to be the final leg as he secured the £10,000 top prize.
Lewis' best performance of the day came in a stunning 6-5 semi-final victory over Michael van Gerwen, a game which saw an incredible 13 180s and another miss at double 12 for a nine-darter - this time from the World Champion.
Lewis kicked off the day with a narrow 6-5 victory over Benito van de Pas, before beating Andy Hamilton, Justin Pipe and Peter Jacques.
Another 11-leg victory followed in the quarter-finals against Richard North - who was enjoying one of his best runs on the PDC ProTour - before Lewis saw off Betway Premier League rivals Van Gerwen and Chisnall for glory.
Chisnall's run to the final saw him narrowly edge past Ritchie Edhouse 6-5 in the opening round, before seeing off Andy Jenkins and John Henderson to reach the last 16.
There he beat Mickey Mansell before whitewashing Mark Webster to reach the final four. A dominant 6-3 victory over Alan Norris meant Chisnall booked his place in his first Players Championship final since the final event of 2016.
It was another strong run for Van Gerwen on the floor, but his wait for a Players Championship title in 2017 goes on, having now fallen at the semi-final stage on two occasions.
Norris' strong form continued. Having clinched Players Championship One in Barnsley, he also made the semi-finals at the Coral UK Open before his run to the last four in Milton Keynes.
He edged out Rowby-John Rodriguez in his opening game, before making light work of Ronnie Baxter and Adam Hunt as he reached the last 16. Victories over Gerwyn Price and Steve Beaton followed, before losing out to Chisnall at the penultimate hurdle.
The PDC ProTour continues on Sunday, with another £75,000 prize fund up for grabs as Players Championship Six gets underway at Arena MK.
The tournament is being streamed live online with action from two boards simultaneously available for PDCTV-HD Subscribers worldwide through www.livepdc.tv as well as through a series of bookmakers' websites.
Full results from Players Championship Five can be found below:
WHERE TO WATCH
Live coverage from two streamed boards will be available online for all PDCTV-HD Subscribers worldwide via www.livepdc.tv .
Live coverage is also available through the following bookmakers' websites:
188 Bet (China, Brazil, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand)
Aspen (China)
Bet365 (Worldwide)
EurobetRetail (Italy)
Fonbet (Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Cyprus)
Ligastavok (Russia)
Luckia (Spain)
Nike (Slovakia)
Olimp (Kazakhstan)
RETAretail (Spain)
Snairetail (Italy)
Sportsbet Australia (Australia)
STSretail (Poland)
TAB NZ (New Zealand)
Tipsport (Czech Republic, Slovakia)
Totobet (Armenia)
TouTou (China, Brazil, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand)
Unibet (UK, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Norway, Belgium, Romania, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Estonia, Hungary, Australia)
Unibet France (France)
Vivarobet (Armenia)
Wwin (Bosnia & Herzegovia)
Prize Fund
Winner £10,000
Runner-Up £6,000
Semi-Finalists £3,000
Quarter-Finalists £2,250
Last 16 Losers £1,500
Last 32 Losers £1,000
Last 64 Losers £500
Total £75,000
Players Championship Five
Saturday April 1, Arena MK, Milton Keynes
First Round
Michael van Gerwen 6-3 Sven Groen
Vincent van der Voort 6-2 Haruki Muramatsu
Brendan Dolan 6-3 Jamie Caven
Simon Stevenson 6-1 Craig Gilchrist
Cristo Reyes 6-1 Darron Brown
Mick Todd 6-4 Martin Schindler
Steve Hine 6-1 Steve West
Aden Kirk 6-4 Ryan Palmer
Ian White 6-5 Ryan Searle
Matthew Dennant 6-1 Dennis Smith
Robbie Green 6-3 Richie Corner
Jamie Bain 6-4 Berry van Peer
Kim Huybrechts 6-5 Kirk Shepherd
Rob Cross 6-2 Lee Bryant
Christian Kist 6-2 Paul Harvey
Scott Taylor 6-4 Jamie Lewis
Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-4 Simon Whitlock
Richard North 6-3 Harry Robinson
Josh Payne 6-2 Jeffrey de Zwaan
Jimmy Hendriks 6-4 Mick McGowan
Shaun Griffiths 6-5 Michael Smith
Dimitri van den Bergh 6-4 Jonny Clayton
Kyle Anderson 6-5 Warrick Scheffer
Kevin Painter 6-5 Stephen Burton
Adrian Lewis 6-5 Benito van de Pas
Andy Hamilton 6-4 Terry Roach
Justin Pipe 6-2 Maik Langendorf
Joe Murnan 6-1 Ross Twell
Gary Anderson 6-1 Ray Campbell
Peter Hudson 6-4 Max Hopp
Daryl Gurney 6-2 Mark Barilli
Peter Jacques 6-1 Paul Nicholson
Peter Wright 6-1 Mike De Decker
Wayne Jones 6-3 Diogo Portela
Steve Lennon 6-5 Raymond van Barneveld
Terry Temple 6-1 Paul Rowley
Stephen Bunting 6-2 Simon Preston
John Bowles 6-2 Devon Petersen
Steve Beaton 6-2 Zoran Lerchbacher
John Part 6-4 Ricky Williams
Alan Norris 6-5 Rowby-John Rodriguez
Ronnie Baxter 6-5 Ted Evetts
Ronny Huybrechts 6-3 Chris Quantock
Adam Hunt 6-5 Darren Johnson
Gerwyn Price 6-2 Madars Razma
Yordi Meeuwisse 6-3 Tony Newell
Chris Dobey 6-3 James Richardson
Ricky Evans 6-2 Colin Roelofs
Dave Chisnall 6-5 Ritchie Edhouse
Andy Jenkins 6-1 Jim Brown
Darren Webster 6-2 William O'Connor
John Henderson 6-5 Jeffrey de Graaf
Richie Burnett 6-0 Jelle Klaasen
Keegan Brown 6-2 Ryan Meikle
James Wilson 6-3 Ron Meulenkamp
Mickey Mansell 6-1 David Pallett
Jan Dekker 6-3 Mensur Suljovic
Jonathan Worsley 6-1 Brian Woods
Robert Thornton 6-4 Prakash Jiwa
Mark Webster 6-2 Robert Owen
Andrew Gilding 6-5 Joe Cullen
Vincent Kamphuis 6-5 Andy Boulton
Wes Newton 6-3 Mervyn King
Matt Clark 6-5 Antonio Alcinas
Second Round
Michael van Gerwen 6-3 Vincent van der Voort
Simon Stevenson 6-2 Brendan Dolan
Cristo Reyes 6-3 Mick Todd
Steve Hine 6-4 Aden Kirk
Ian White 6-2 Matthew Dennant
Jamie Bain 6-1 Robbie Green
Rob Cross 6-4 Kim Huybrechts
Scott Taylor 6-0 Christian Kist
Richard North 6-4 Dirk van Duijvenbode
Jimmy Hendriks 6-3 Josh Payne
Dimtiri van den Bergh 6-1 Shaun Griffiths
Kyle Anderson 6-5 Kevin Painter
Adrian Lewis 6-2 Andy Hamilton
Justin Pipe 6-3 Joe Murnan
Peter Hudson 6-3 Gary Anderson
Peter Jacques 6-3 Daryl Gurney
Peter Wright 6-1 Wayne Jones
Steve Lennon 6-3 Terry Temple
Stephen Bunting 6-1 John Bowles
Steve Beaton 6-0 John Part
Alan Norris 6-1 Ronnie Baxter
Adam Hunt 6-2 Ronny Huybrechts
Gerwyn Price 6-5 Yordi Meeuwisse
Ricky Evans 6-4 Chris Dobey
Dave Chisnall 6-3 Andy Jenkins
John Henderson 6-1 Darren Webster
Keegan Brown 6-5 Richie Burnett
Mickey Mansell 6-4 James Wilson
Jan Dekker 6-0 Jonathan Worsley
Mark Webster 6-1 Robert Thornton
Andrew Gilding 6-2 Vincent Kamphuis
Matt Clark 6-3 Wes Newton
Third Round
Michael van Gerwen 6-3 Simon Stevenson
Cristo Reyes 6-5 Steve Hine
Ian White 6-5 Jamie Bain
Rob Cross 6-2 Scott Taylor
Richard North 6-1 Jimmy Hendriks
Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-4 Kyle Anderson
Adrian Lewis 6-5 Justin Pipe
Peter Jacques 6-5 Peter Hudson
Peter Wright 6-2 Steve Lennon
Steve Beaton 6-5 Stephen Bunting
Alan Norris 6-2 Adam Hunt
Gerwyn Price 6-2 Ricky Evans
Dave Chisnall 6-3 John Henderson
Mickey Mansell 6-2 Keegan Brown
Mark Webster 6-2 Jan Dekker
Matt Clark 6-1 Andrew Gilding
Fourth Round
Michael van Gerwen 6-1 Cristo Reyes
Ian White 6-3 Rob Cross
Richard North 6-4 Dimitri Van den Bergh
Adrian Lewis 6-3 Peter Jacques
Steve Beaton 6-4 Peter Wright
Alan Norris 6-2 Gerwyn Price
Dave Chisnall 6-2 Mickey Mansell
Mark Webster 6-2 Matt Clark
Quarter-Finals
Michael van Gerwen 6-1 Ian White
Adrian Lewis 6-5 Richard North
Alan Norris 6-5 Steve Beaton
Dave Chisnall 6-0 Mark Webster
Semi-Finals
Adrian Lewis 6-5 Michael van Gerwen
Dave Chisnall 6-3 Alan Norris
Final
Adrian Lewis 6-3 Dave Chisnall