2018 European Darts Open Day Two

European Tour

PETER WRIGHT bounced back to form as he began his defence of the European Darts Open title in Leverkusen on Saturday.

2018 European Darts Open Draw

European Tour

FORMER European Tour winners James Wade and Steve Beaton will clash on the opening day of the European Darts Open on Friday.

Delight For White In PC6

ProTour

IAN WHITE ended a two-year gap between ranking titles by winning Sunday's Players Championship Six, edging out Dave Chisnall.

Van Gerwen Seals PC5 Title

ProTour

MICHAEL VAN GERWEN's incredible 2018 continued as he clinched his third Players Championship title of the year.

Weekend Double For Brilliant Anderson

ProTour

GARY ANDERSON completed a brilliant weekend double by claiming victory in Players Championship Four on Sunday.

Anderson Wins Players Championship Three

ProTour

GARY ANDERSON continued his excellent form as he stormed to the Players Championship Three title in Barnsley

2018 ET3-4 UK Qualifiers

European Tour

CAMERON MENZIES landed a nine-dart finish as he claimed a double European Tour UK Qualifier success alongside six other players.

Players Championship 5-6 Entries

ProTour

THE entries for Players Championship 5&6 at Arena MK in Milton Keynes on March 17-18 have been confirmed.

ET3 & ET4 Entries Confirmed

European Tour

THE entries have been confirmed for the German Darts Open and Austrian Darts Open European Tour events.

DartConnect Introduction Proves Popular

News

DARTS fans are able to enjoy more in-depth coverage of PDC events than ever in 2018 following the introduction of DartConnect scoring.

Brendan Dolan continued his resurgence by winning Players Championship 29 in Barnsley on Monday, while Peter Wright set a new record for the highest ever recorded average in a live broadcast match.

Having ended his five-year wait for a PDC title at Players Championship 22 in August, Dolan made it two in just over months with a hard-fought 8-6 win over Ian White in the final.

The Northern Irishman fired in averages of 104.9 and 104.8 in victories over Mark Webster and Gerwyn Price respectively on his way to the semi-finals, before overcoming record-breaker Wright in a last-leg decider to reach the final.

"I can still do it, I played quality darts today at the right times and I think I deserved any luck I got," said Dolan, who now has six PDC titles to his name.

"The one in Hildesheim was more of a relief, whereas today I came into it with more belief that I could win having done it recently.

"When you've not been winning for five years your confidence is not so high and winning in Hildesheim has drastically changed that.

"In my head today I was determined to add money to my ranking to give me shot of qualifying for the 2020 World Matchplay and World Grand Prix.

"I've missed those two events for the last three years and it's killed me not being there, so hopefully next year I will be."

Former World Grand Prix runner-up Dolan produced checkouts of 136 and 161 to hold throw in two of the opening four legs of the final, before finding his way through to double three for the first break of the match in leg seven to take a 4-3 lead.

Another ton-plus finish, this time a 108, opened up a two-leg cushion for Dolan, an advantage which he soon doubled by taking the next two legs.

White then began a spirited comeback, and after Dolan squandered three match darts in leg 12, White found himself within a leg of Dolan at 6-7.

However, Dolan held firm and a strong leg on throw saw ended with him hitting the match-winning double at the fifth attempt.

Earlier in the day, Wright averaged 123.5 in his 6-0 quarter-final win against Krzysztof Ratajski, the highest ever recorded in a live broadcast darts match.

The previous record broadcast average was 123.4, set by Michael van Gerwen in a 7-1 defeat of Michael Smith in the 2016 Premier League.

Elsewhere, the day was also a significant one for Ron Meulenkamp who reached his sixth ProTour semi-final, but the Dutchman was unable to break his duck of never making it to a final.

Drawboard