Michael van Gerwen believes that his Melbourne Darts Masters victory has got his rivals running scared again!
The Dutchman ended a rare three-month gap between tournament victories by picking up the World Series of Darts title at the Melbourne Arena on Saturday, defeating Daryl Gurney 8-3 in the final.
Van Gerwen's win was his first title in eight events since claiming the Premier League in mid-May - his longest time span between tournament victories for over four years - but he is in buoyant mood ahead of the NZ Darts Masters, presented by Burger King & TAB.
The World Champion opens his challenge for back-to-back titles against Australia's Kyle Anderson at the Claudelands Arena in Hamilton on Friday in a mouth-watering contest, and he said: "They are all scared again now because I won a tournament!
"I didn't do too well over the last two months and now I'm back to winning ways, so I'm going to put the pressure on them and we're going to see what's going to happen. My talent is permanent, don't worry about that."
Van Gerwen also saw off Tim Pusey, Gary Anderson and Peter Wright in Melbourne, whitewashing the latter in the semi-finals.
"I'm really I glad I could put in a good performance and I'm a happy man," Van Gerwen added, speaking to DartPlayers Australia. "It's good to be winning."
The 2019 NZ Darts Masters will take place at the Claudelands Arena in Hamilton on August 23-24 with a limited number of tickets still available via this link.
The event will be broadcast worldwide through the PDC's international broadcast partners, as well as via PDCTV-HD for Rest of the World Subscribers (outside of the UK, Ireland & Netherlands).
UK TV coverage on ITV4 will be from 7pm BST on each day.
2019 NZ Darts Masters, presented by Burger King & TAB
Draw Bracket
(1) Peter Wright v Damon Heta
James Wade v Craig Caldwell
(4) Daryl Gurney v David Platt
Raymond van Barneveld v Cody Harris
(2) Michael van Gerwen v Kyle Anderson
Gary Anderson v Haupai Puha
(3) Rob Cross v Warren Parry
Simon Whitlock v Ben Robb
Schedule of Play
Friday, August 23 (1800 local time)
James Wade v Craig Caldwell
Simon Whitlock v Ben Robb
Daryl Gurney v David Platt
Rob Cross v Warren Parry
Gary Anderson v Haupai Puha
Peter Wright v Damon Heta
Michael van Gerwen v Kyle Anderson
Raymond van Barneveld v Cody Harris
Best of 11 legs
Saturday, August 24 (1800 local time)
Quarter-Finals
Semi-Finals
Final
All best of 15 legs