Dutch Ace Continues Winning Run

MICHAEL VAN GERWEN continued his run of success with a superb comeback from 4-0 down to defeat Ian White 6-4 in the final of Sunday's Players Championship in Crawley.

The Dutch star added a sixth PDC ProTour title of the year to the PartyPoker.com World Grand Prix crown he claimed last month with another superb day of darts.

After defeating Peter Hudson, Mark Jones and Peter Wright in his first three games at the K2 Centre, van Gerwen then saw off Colin Lloyd 6-2 to reach the semi-finals.

There, he swept past Dave Chisnall with a 6-1 triumph before performing a superb comeback to deny White his maiden professional title.

White started the final superbly, hitting tops to break in the opening leg and the same bed to double his lead with a 79 finish.

Van Gerwen then missed double 14 for a 145 finish as White hit double 16 to move three legs up, and he posted two 180s and a 180 in a 14-darter to lead 4-0.

White also had a chance to win the fifth, missing two darts at double 12 to allow van Gerwen to finish double ten to get off the mark.

The Dutchman then fired in legs of 14 and 15 darts to pull back to 4-3 before the pair kicked off the eighth with 180s as van Gerwen dramatically levelled, initially missing two darts at a double but being given a let-off when White missed double top twice and double ten with one dart to allow him back in.

Van Gerwen opened leg nine with another maximum as he hit the front with a confident 13-darter, and after hitting a 180 for a fourth successive leg he landed double eight to complete the comeback.

"It's amazing for me and it's probably the most difficult ProTour event I've won," said van Gerwen. "I didn't play that well at the beginning of the game and I struggled a bit but it was a very tough game for me.

"I'm very happy to get my sixth win of the year, and I was confident that I could make a comeback like that.

"This will give me even more confidence for the Grand Slam of Darts next week and I'm looking forward to Wolverhampton. I'm playing very well and I want to continue this."

White's defeat saw him lose out in a sixth final on the PDC ProTour, but the Stoke ace continues his rise towards winning a place in the world's top 32 after picking up £3,000 as runner-up.

His run to the final included a superb 6-4 defeat of Saturday's champion Simon Whitlock in the semi-finals as well as wins over Connie Finnan, Wayne Jones, John Henderson and Brendan Dolan.

Whitlock followed up Saturday's triumph by powering into the last four with a 6-5 win over Terry Jenkins in an amazing quarter-final, with the Australian averaging 110 and taking out a 170 finish during the contest, while his opponent averaged almost 108 in pushing him all the way.

Chisnall was the other semi-finalist, while Thornton, Lloyd, Jenkins and Dolan completed the quarter-final line-up in Crawley.

Thornton missed double 12 for a nine-dart finish during his fine 6-4 win over World Champion Adrian Lewis in the last 16, while the Stoke ace had progressed to the fourth round by finishing 154 to win a deciding leg against Jamie Caven earlier in the day.

Belgium's Kim Huybrechts matched Thornton in coming close to achieving a nine-darter, also missing double 12 for a perfect leg during his win over Andrew Gilding.

The Crawley Players Championships were the penultimate weekend of PDC ProTour events this year, with a final double-header to be held at the Barnsley Metrodome on November 24 and 25 and followed by the Ladbrokes World Darts Championship PDPA Qualifier on November 26.

Players Championship 18
K2 Centre, Crawley, Sunday November 4
First Round
Dave Chisnall (1) Bye
Andy Jenkins 6-4 Mark Hylton
Scott Rand (32) 6-4 Adrian Gray
Prakash Jiwa 6-5 Jim Walker
Mervyn King (16) 6-3 Keith Stephen
Ian Jopling 6-5 Gareth Pass
Richie Burnett (17) 6-2 Steve Hine
Adam Hunt 6-3 Matt Padgett
Adrian Lewis (8) Bye
Barrie Bates 6-1 Darren Whittingham
Jamie Caven (25) 6-5 Jamie Lewis
Mark Lawrence 6-3 Steven Pearson
Robert Thornton (9) Bye
Tony West 6-3 Stephen Hardy
Kevin Painter (24) 6-5 Reece Robinson
Darren Johnson 6-2 Scott Coleman
Wes Newton (5) Bye
Alex Roy 6-3 Denis Ovens
Stuart Kellett 6-1 James Hubbard (28)
Richie Howson 6-4 Bernd Roith
Colin Lloyd (12) Bye
Michael Barnard 6-4 Nick Fullwell
Mark Walsh (21) 6-4 Dennis Smith
Daniel Day 6-3 Lee White
Michael van Gerwen (4) Bye
Peter Hudson 6-4 Mick Todd
Mark Jones 6-5 Arron Monk (29)
Alan Tabern 6-5 Kevin McDine
Peter Wright (13) Bye
Michael Mansell 6-3 Nigel Heydon
John Part 6-3 Vincent van der Voort (20)
Mark Frost 6-4 Brandon Walsh
Simon Whitlock (2) Bye
Shaun Griffiths 6-4 Gaz Cousins
Dean Winstanley (31) 6-3 Joe Murnan
James Richardson 6-3 Mareno Michels
Matthew Edgar 6-4 Andy Smith (15)
John Bowles 6-2 Adam Smith-Neale
Steve Beaton (18) 6-3 Steve Farmer
Kevin Dowling 6-3 Jerry Hendriks
Kim Huybrechts (7) Bye
Andrew Gilding 6-3 Les Wallace
Gary Anderson (26) 6-4 Matt Clark
Darren Webster 6-0 Matthew Waddoups
Terry Jenkins (10) Bye
Ross Smith 6-5 Gino Vos
Colin Osborne (23) 6-0 Liam Kelly
Ian Moss 6-2 Andy Relf
Ian White (6) Bye
Connie Finnan 6-1 Steve Grubb
Wayne Jones (27) 6-1 Steve Maish
Roland Scholten 6-4 Dave Ladley
Ronnie Baxter (11) Bye
John Henderson 6-2 Terry Temple
Michael Smith (22) 6-5 Dennis Priestley
Chris Aubrey 6-0 Dave Kelly
Justin Pipe (3) Bye
John Scott 6-4 Paddy Meaney
Johnny Haines 6-5 Joe Cullen (30)
Brian Woods 6-1 William O'Connor
Brendan Dolan (14) 6-2 Paul Barham
Ted Hankey 6-4 Steve Brown
Mark Webster (19) 6-4 Paul Rowley
Sam Hill 6-4 Chris Mason

Second Round
Dave Chisnall 6-2 Andy Jenkins
Prakash Jiwa 6-5 Scott Rand
Mervyn King 6-2 Ian Jopling
Adam Hunt 6-5 Richie Burnett
Adrian Lewis 6-3 Barrie Bates
Jamie Caven 6-3 Mark Lawrence
Robert Thornton 6-4 Tony West
Kevin Painter 6-5 Darren Johnson
Alex Roy 6-5 Wes Newton
Stuart Kellett 6-3 Richie Howson
Colin Lloyd 6-5 Michael Barnard
Daniel Day 6-5 Mark Walsh
Michael van Gerwen 6-1 Peter Hudson
Mark Jones 6-2 Alan Tabern
Peter Wright 6-4 Michael Mansell
John Part 6-1 Mark Frost
Simon Whitlock 6-2 Shaun Griffiths
Dean Winstanley 6-3 James Richardson
John Bowles 6-5 Matthew Edgar
Steve Beaton 6-2 Kevin Dowling
Kim Huybrechts 6-1 Andrew Gilding
Gary Anderson 6-2 Darren Webster
Terry Jenkins 6-0 Ross Smith
Colin Osborne 6-5 Ian Moss
Ian White 6-4 Connie Finnan
Wayne Jones 6-3 Roland Scholten
John Henderson 6-3 Ronnie Baxter
Michael Smith 6-2 Chris Aubrey
Justin Pipe 6-2 John Scott
Brian Woods 6-4 Johnny Haines
Brendan Dolan 6-3 Ted Hankey
Mark Webster 6-1 Sam Hill
Losers £200

Third Round
Dave Chisnall 6-1 Prakash Jiwa
Adam Hunt 6-5 Mervyn King
Adrian Lewis 6-5 Jamie Caven
Robert Thornton 6-5 Kevin Painter
Stuart Kellett 6-1 Alex Roy
Colin Lloyd 6-5 Daniel Day
Michael van Gerwen 6-4 Mark Jones
Peter Wright 6-4 John Part
Simon Whitlock 6-3 Dean Winstanley
Steve Beaton 6-3 John Bowles
Gary Anderson 6-3 Kim Huybrechts
Terry Jenkins 6-3 Colin Osborne
Ian White 6-3 Wayne Jones
John Henderson 6-5 Michael Smith
Justin Pipe 6-1 Brian Woods
Brendan Dolan 6-3 Mark Webster
Losers £400

Fourth Round
Dave Chisnall 6-2 Adam Hunt
Robert Thornton 6-4 Adrian Lewis
Colin Lloyd 6-3 Stuart Kellett
Michael van Gerwen 6-2 Peter Wright
Simon Whitlock 6-0 Steve Beaton
Terry Jenkins 6-1 Gary Anderson
Ian White 6-4 John Henderson
Brendan Dolan 6-1 Justin Pipe
Losers £600

Quarter-Finals
Dave Chisnall 6-3 Robert Thornton
Michael van Gerwen 6-2 Colin Lloyd
Simon Whitlock 6-5 Terry Jenkins
Ian White 6-1 Brendan Dolan
Losers £1,000

Semi-Finals
Michael van Gerwen 6-1 Dave Chisnall
Ian White 6-4 Simon Whitlock
Losers £2,000

Final
Michael van Gerwen 6-5 Ian White
Winner £6,000
Runner-Up £3,000

Final - Leg-By-Leg
Michael van Gerwen v Ian White
0-0 - Michael van Gerwen win the bull and throws first.
0-1 - White finishes tops to break throw in the opening leg.
0-2 - White takes out 79 on double top to move two legs up.
0-3 - White breaks again, hitting two 140s to kick off the leg and initially missing the bull for a 164 finish but returning, when van Gerwen cannot finish double 14 for a 149 checkout, to pin ouble 16.
0-4 - White again opens with two 140s and then hits a 180 before hitting double eight for a 14-dart finish.
1-4 - van Gerwen misses tops for a 120 finish, but White is off-target with two darts at double 12 to allow him back in to land double ten.
2-4 - The Dutchman breaks for the first time with a 14-darter, hitting double 16.
3-4 - van Gerwen's fightback continues as he hits 180 and 140 to open the leg and double ten to win a third successive leg.
4-4 - Both players open with a 180, with van Gerwen initially missing double 16 and eight to break, only for White to miss two darts at tops and one at double ten, with the Dutchman osting double four to level.
5-4 - van Gerwen begins a third leg with a 180 and finishes tops for a 13-darter to amazingly lead the contest.
5-5 - White is first to a finish, and although van Gerwen hits a 180, the Stoke ace lands a tricky double eight with his third dart to force a decider.
6-5 - The pair continued to be neck-and-neck, with the Dutchman initially failing to finish 96 before White is unable to take out 97, allowing van Gerwen to hit tops for the win.

Match Stats