Gary Anderson racked up his 30th PDC ranking title with victory at Players Championship Seven in Hildesheim on Monday.
Anderson defeated Adam Lipscombe 8-3 in the final, denying Lipscombe a fairytale run to a title in just his eighth event since winning a Tour Card for the first time in January.
Anderson overcame World Grand Prix champion Mike De Decker in the semi-finals, having produced a trio of ton-plus averages earlier in the day as he ended a six-month wait for a PDC title.
"The last few months has been hard for me," admitted the two-time World Champion.
"I've been struggling since December so it's nice to win one.
"I'm still enjoying playing darts but sometimes my body doesn't play ball; I'll keep going.
"Fair play to Adam, I expect him to do well and put a hole in the rankings."
Anderson dropped just seven legs in his opening four matches in wins over Connor Scutt, Andy Boulton, Marvin van Velzen and Tavis Dudeney.
The Scot came through a last-leg decider with Krzysztof Ratajski in the quarter-finals, before comfortable wins over De Decker and Lipscombe saw him take the title.
Lipscombe - a surprise package at Qualifying School in January - took the scalps of Damon Heta, Dirk van Duijvenbode and William O'Connor in a sensational run to the final.
Monday's action also saw three nine-dart finishes hit in Hildesheim, with Ryan Searle hitting perfection in his first leg of the day against Joshua Richardson.
Dirk van Duijvenbode and William O'Connor also hit nine-darters against Thomas Lovely and Jimmy van Schie respecitvely.
The PDC ProTour season continues with Players Championship Eight on Tuesday, with live coverage from four streaming boards broadcast on PDCTV.
Full tournament results are listed in the Match Centre.
Click here for match stats through DartConnect.
2025 Players Championship 7
Monday March 17
Halle 39, Hildesheim
Last 16
William O'Connor 6-1 Jimmy van Schie
Adam Lipscombe 6-1 Karel Sedlacek
Kevin Doets 6-5 Martijn Dragt
Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-4 Niko Springer
Gary Anderson 6-2 Tavis Dudeney
Krzysztof Ratajski 6-3 Daryl Gurney
Peter Wright 6-4 Danny van Trijp
Mike De Decker 6-5 Ricky Evans
Quarter-Finals
Adam Lipscombe 6-4 William O'Connor
Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-3 Kevin Doets
Gary Anderson 6-5 Krzysztof Ratajski
Mike De Decker 6-3 Peter Wright
Semi-Finals
Adam Lipscombe 7-4 Dirk van Duijvenbode
Gary Anderson 7-3 Mike De Decker
Final
Gary Anderson 8-3 Adam Lipscombe
Nine-Darters
Ryan Searle hit nine-dart finish in opening leg of his first round game against Joshua Richardson.
Dirk van Duijvenbode hit nine-dart finish in fourth leg of his second round game against Thomas Lovely.
William O'Connor hit nine-dart finish in sixth leg of his fourth round game against Jimmy van Schie.