MICHAEL VAN GERWEN won his fifth PDC European Tour title of 2015 with a 6-4 victory over Dave Chisnall in the final of Sunday's European Darts Matchplay in Innsbruck.
The world number one has already claimed two wins in Germany and one apiece in Gibraltar and the Netherlands this year, and claimed the £25,000 first prize in Austria with a fine weekend.
Having lost out to Michael Smith in the European Darts Trophy a week ago, van Gerwen made amends by defeating another of the world's top ten as Chisnall produced an outstanding display to reach the final.
Ultimately, though, a key break of throw in the ninth leg of the decider proved the turning point as van Gerwen moved 5-4 up with a clinical 11-darter before securing his win.
The game's first two legs had also gone against the throw, with van Gerwen's double 16 cancelled out by a 13-darter from Chisnall, who took out 48 to edhe ahead.
The pair then traded 14-dart finishes before van Gerwen was handed a reprieve for five missed darts in leg six as Chisnall wasted four darts to open up a two-leg cushion, allowing the Dutchman back to level on double five.
Chisnall then hit back-to-back 180s to kick off leg seven and although he couldn't complete the perfect nine-darter, he regained the lead at 4-3.
But van Gerwen was not in the mood to repeat his defeat to Smith and he sealed the ninth leg in just four visits to move to within a leg of victory, which he completed with a 70 finish and trademark fist-pump.
"I didn't like losing in the final last week so I am delighted to win here," van Gerwen said. "The final is always different and I'm really glad I did because Dave is such a good player."
"I'm pleased with how I played all weekend overall though and to get a win and another trophy on the European Tour is great."
Van Gerwen had opened his challenge with a 6-3 win over Ronny Huybrechts on Saturday, before sweeping past Raymond van Barneveld with a 6-1 third round win, turning on the style with a 114 average to defeat Rowby-John Rodriguez in the quarter-finals and dropping only one leg in his semi-final defeat of Robert Thornton.
Chisnall saw off William O'Connor and Terry Jenkins - in a dramatic deciding leg - to reach the last eight, and was in superb form to see off Peter Wright and David Pallett with 6-3 wins on the final night.
He said: "I'm happy to get to the final in front of such a great crowd, but Michael just had a little bit more on the day and I threw a few tired darts."
Shropshire youngster Pallett enjoyed his best-ever run on the European Tour as he won through to the semi-finals, showing superb scoring ability in his wins over Jamie Caven, Jelle Klaasen, Alan Norris and Kim Huybrechts over the weekend.
Scottish ace Thornton also won through to the last four as he sought his second European Tour win of the year, but van Gerwen proved too strong with a 109 average and checkouts of 160, 104 and 100.
The year's final PDC European Tour event will be the European Darts Grand Prix, to be held at the Glaspalast in Sindelfingen, Germany, from October 16-18. For tickets, visit www.pdc-europe.tv.
MATCH INFORMATION
QUARTER-FINALS
Dave Chisnall 6-3 Peter Wright
Dave Chisnall marched into the European Darts Matchplay semi-finals in style with a 105.03 average as he overcame number three seed Peter Wright 6-3 in their last eight contest.
After Chisnall took the opening leg, the pair traded superb 11-dart finishes before the St Helens man then followed up a 60 checkout with a 12-darter - which featured two 180s - to move 4-1 up.
Although Wright took two of the next three to cut the gap, Chisnall had moved to the brink of victory with a 13-darter and then sealed his semi-final spot on tops.
Kim Huybrechts 5-6 David Pallett
David Pallett’s dream weekend went on as he got the better of Kim Huybrechts in another deciding leg shoot-out.
Pallett had squeezed past Alan Norris in their afternoon third round match and used the experience to good effect as he knocked out the Belgian number one to progress to the last four.
Huybrechts had three darts for a 3-1 lead but he slipped up, allowing Pallett back in to first level and then take the lead.
Neither player could get a crucial two leg advantage and the match went down to the wire with Pallett checking out 79 for the win.
Vincent van der Voort 3-6 Robert Thornton
Robert Thornton stayed in the hunt for a second European Tour title of 2015 after victory over Vincent van der Voort.
The Scot lifted the trophy earlier this year in Duesseldorf and remains on course for a repeat after ending van der Voort’s hopes.
Neither player was able to hold their throw over the first four legs, with van der Voort’s 116 check-out for a 2-1 lead the highlight of the opening spell.
However Thornton kicked-on after finally holding throw in leg five and a 142 to break van der Voort and a further hold took him to with a leg of victory.
His path to the last four was temporarily blocked as van der Voort held throw in the eighth leg but Thornton wasn’t to be denied and a double 10 saw him through.
Rowby-John Rodriguez 3-6 Michael van Gerwen
The final quarter-final was the most explosive as top seed Michael van Gerwen ended home hopes despite a phenomenal effort from Rowby-John Rodriguez.
The first six legs were shared at as van Gerwen held throw twice with 11-darters and then broke Rodriguez’s resistance in the eighth leg with another to lead 5-3 after checking out 81.
He ended with sensational stats of an average of 114 and two-third success rate on doubles as he laid down a marker to the remaining players.
SEMI-FINALS
Dave Chisnall 6-3 David Pallett
Dave Chisnall ended David Pallett’s fine weekend with a 6-3 win in their semi-final match up.
Chisnall opened with a 121 finish on the bull and was soon 3-0 to the good before Pallett responded and levelled matters.
But after Pallett failed to take out 43 in the eighth leg, Chisnall broke and then completed the win in style with a 113 check out.
Robert Thornton 1-6 Michael van Gerwen
Michael van Gerwen blew the challenge of Robert Thornton away to secure his place in the final against Dave Chisnall.
The Dutchman raced in to a 3-0 lead, hitting 104 and 160 finishes on the way and although a rare slip up from 48 let in Thornton to get off the mark in leg five, van Gerwen moved to the hill by starting the next leg with six perfect darts.
And he rounded off an impressive performance with a 100 check-out to record another storming average of 109.09.
FINAL
Dave Chisnall 4-6 Michael van Gerwen
Michael van Gerwen picked up his fifth European Tour title of the year as a single break of throw proved all important against Dave Chisnall.
Statistically the two best players of the weekend, van Gerwen and Chisnall couldn’t quite find their top gear in the championship match with neither able to deliver the three-figure averages that they had earlier in the weekend.
But in the ninth leg, with the scores tied at 4-4, van Gerwen delivered a trademark 11-darter to move on to the front foot and claim the £25,000 winner’s cheque.
The first two legs went against throw before the next three legs went with serve as both players settled down.
Van Gerwen was fortunate to hold in the sixth leg after missing five darts at a double, but Chisnall couldn’t capitalise.
Chisnall then hit back-to-back 180s to kick off leg seven and although he couldn’t complete the perfect nine-darter, he re-took the lead at 4-3.
But van Gerwen was not in the mood to repeat his defeat to Michael Smith in last week’s Muelheim final and he sealed the ninth leg in just four visits to move to within a leg of victory, which he sealed with a 70 finish and trademark fist-pump.
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Live Scores
Live scores from the European Darts Matchplay can be seen at the PDC Live Scores Website - http://live.dartsdata.com .
European Darts Matchplay
Sunday September 20
Evening Session
Quarter-Finals
Peter Wright 3-6 Dave Chisnall
Kim Huybrechts 5-6 David Pallett
Vincent van der Voort 3-6 Robert Thornton
Rowby-John Rodriguez 3-6 Michael van Gerwen
Semi-Finals
Dave Chisnall (6) 6-3 David Pallett
Robert Thornton (12) 1-6 Michael van Gerwen (1)
Final
Dave Chisnall (6) 4-6 Michael van Gerwen (1)
Games played in draw bracket order as displayed above.
All games the best of 11 legs.