ROB CROSS claimed his maiden PDC ProTour title as he beat Mervyn King 6-5 in the final of Players Championship Three, on a day that also saw Kim Huybrechts hit a nine-dart finish.

Sussex's Cross, who only joined the PDC ProTour less than three months ago, began his day with impressive victories over Alan Norris, Max Hopp and then Richie Burnett at the Barnsley Metrodome.

Last year's PDC Unicorn Challenge Tour winner then faced Jamie Caven in the last 16 where he secured a 6-4 win to book his place in the quarter-finals.

There, he defeated five-time World Champion Raymond van Barneveld 6-4 to set up a semi-final encounter with last weekend’s UK Open runner-up Gerwyn Price.

The Welshman took a commanding 3-1 lead before Cross won five of the following seven legs to make his way in to a first PDC ProTour final, as he took on experienced King.

The final was a tense encounter which saw the pair break the others throw in the opening two legs.

From that point both King and Cross finished well and held throw to take the match to a deciding leg, despite Cross missing the bullseye to claim the victory in leg ten.

Cross opened the last leg with 134 to put himself in control, and eventually went on to secure his first title and the £10,000 prize on double two.

King's displays on the day saw him reach his first final on the circuit since 2014, starting with victories over Brian Woods, Jeffrey de Graaf and ninth seed James Wade.

King followed that with two impressive performances, first in a 6-1 win over Martin Schindler and then a 6-2 victory against Ritchie Edhouse to make his way in to the semi-final.

There, he faced Steve West - who he defeated in the World Championship three months ago - and the Norfolk ace had to dig deep to secure a 6-5 win from 4-2 down to book his spot in the decider.

Players Championship Three saw none of the top ten seeds make their way in to the quarter-final stage with Michael van Gerwen, Gary Anderson and Peter Wright all being defeated before the last 16 stage.

World number one Van Gerwen came unstuck against William O’Connor, two-time World Champion Anderson was beaten by Daryl Gurney and Paul Nicholson accounted for newly crowned UK Open champion Wright.

Kim Huybrechts also had a memorable day in Barnsley as he hit a perfect leg in his opening match against Sven Groen before being beaten by Jamie Caven in the second round.

Ritchie Edhouse, Raymond van Barneveld, Michael Smith and Daryl Gurney will all reflect on a solid day as they reached the quarter-final stages.

Players Championship Four will take place on Sunday, with the £75,000 tournament being streamed live on www.livepdc.tv and a series of bookmakers’ websites.