Van Gerwen denies Schindler to scoop Players Championship 8 title

ProTour

Michael van Gerwen denied Martin Schindler a first ProTour triumph to continue his own run of success with a second ranking title of 2022.

Price doubles 2022 title tally at Players Championship 7

ProTour

Gerwyn Price doubled his 2022 title tally with victory at Players Championship 7 in Niedernhausen on Saturday.

Players Championship 7-8 entries confirmed

ProTour

Entries for the Players Championship double-header in Niedernhausen on March 26-27 have been confirmed.

Anderson admits relief at recapturing form

News

Gary Anderson admits he is relieved to have recaptured his form in the last week having endured a tough start to 2022.

Williams wins first ProTour title at Players Championship 6

ProTour

Jim Williams beat Ricky Evans 8-6 to win Players Championship 6 and secure his first ever PDC title.

Heta edges out Anderson for Players Championship 5 triumph

ProTour

Damon Heta claimed his third PDC title with a superb 8-6 triumph over Gary Anderson in Saturday's Players Championship 5 final.

Players Championships 5-6 entries & European Tour 4-5 seeds confirmed

ProTour

Player entries have been confirmed for Players Championship events 5-6, along with European Tour seeds.

ProTour amendments confirmed on PDC calendar

ProTour

A number of amendments have been made to the PDC calendar in relation to ProTour events and European Tour Qualifiers.

Cullen doubles up with Players Championship 4 success

ProTour

Joe Cullen made it back-to-back ProTour titles with victory at Players Championship 4 in Wigan.

Cullen claims second 2022 title with Players Championship 3 win

ProTour

Joe Cullen claimed his second title of 2022 with victory in Players Championship 3 in Wigan on Saturday, defeating Damon Heta 8-4 in the final.

Dirk van Duijvenbode picked up a third PDC ProTour title of 2023 with victory in Sunday's Players Championship Ten in Wigan.

The Dutchman has already scooped two previous Players Championship wins this year, and added a further £12,000 to his rankings by seeing off Jose de Sousa in Sunday's final.

A high-quality day of darts from Van Duijvenbode also saw him see off UK Open champion Andrew Gilding and Premier League star Dimitri Van den Bergh on his way to the title.

"I wanted three [titles] and I have three," said Van Duijvenbode, who was also a runner-up on the European Tour in the European Darts Open last month.

"I think I was a bit lucky today. I shouldn't have been lucky but against Matt Campbell I should have won 6-3 or 6-2, and I didn't finish it off and at the end he was better.

"I was lucky that I won it at the end and now I won the tournament. In the final, I was so happy with the 156. Jose was about to come back.

"Sometimes I think that knowing what you're capable of, knowing you can hit two 180s in a row, you always feel confident. Sometimes you're lucky, sometimes you're not."

The 2020 World Grand Prix runner-up, Van Duijvenbode is now closing in on a spot in the world's top ten for the first time - sitting less than £50,000 behind Van den Bergh.

"Two years ago when I made the top 32, I wanted to maintain the top 32 position because I didn't think I was good enough to make the top 16 on a regular basis," added the world number 11.

"Now the top ten is my goal for this year. The gap was very big between me and the top ten, I'm closing it but you won't get it easily because they're all good.

"I'm trying my best, trying to keep improving and not be satisfied. I need to be eager to keep on winning and keep on improving. I need to work on my confidence and my game is getting better every week."

He found his heavy-scoring form from the start, opening with a near-106 average in seeing off Frenchman Jacques Labre 6-1, before edging out both Canada's Matt Campbell and former World Youth Champion Bradley Brooks in deciding legs.

Van Duijvenbode followed up a 6-2 win over Gilding by defeating fellow countryman Martijn Kleermaker by the same margin in the quarter-finals.

He was pushed all the way by Van den Bergh in the semi-finals, but was an emphatic winner in the final after taking command against De Sousa by winning the opening five legs without reply.

The Portuguese ace took three of the next four to pull back to 6-3, despite Van Duijvenbode following up an earlier 113 checkout with a 156 combination, before the Dutch ace took the next two for victory.

De Sousa's run to the final was comfortably his best performance of 2023 in a confidence-boosting day for the former Grand Slam of Darts champion.

He overcame top seed Luke Humphries and Germany's Martin Schindler in deciding legs, and averaged over 100 in a 7-2 semi-final success over Ian White.

White's wins over Karel Sedlacek, James Wade, Ronny Huybrechts, Luke Woodhouse and Damon Heta saw him reach a first semi-final since August 2021 and enjoy his best run on the circuit for almost ten months.

White was joined in the last four by Belgian star Van den Bergh, who whitewashed fellow countryman Robbie Knops in the first round and also saw off reigning World Youth Champion Josh Rock and World Championship semi-finalist Gabriel Clemens on Sunday.

Rock was one of two players, alongside Schindler, to achieve a nine-dart finish in Sunday's event, while five-time World Champion Raymond van Barneveld posted a 113.58 average in his first round win over Mike De Decker.

The 2023 Players Championship season resumes on May 20-21 with Events 11-12 in Leicester, with the PDC European Tour continuing next weekend with the Interwetten Austrian Darts Open in Graz.

Nine-Darters!
Martin Schindler achieved a nine-dart finish in leg six of his last 32 tie with Boris Krcmar, before winning 6-5.
Josh Rock also enjoyed a perfect leg in the fourth leg of his 6-4 last 16 win over Jonny Clayton.

Drawboard