Michael van Gerwen won his second Pro Tour title of the year, winning Players Championship event ten as he beat world number one Peter Wright 8-4 in the final.
Danny Jansen also won his first PDC title since earning his tour card back in January. The 19-year-old from Holland defeated Andrew Gilding 8-6 on the Friday to win event nine and take home the £12,000 top prize in Barnsley.
Dutchman Van Gerwen came from 4-0 down to defeat Wright in the final, performing a similar trick in the semi-final as he came from 6-3 down to beat Jose de Sousa 7-6. “Mighty Mike” has arguably been the most in form player of 2022 so far and showed why in his Last 16 match with Brendan Dolan in event 10.
“The History Maker” was impressive himself averaging 103.79, but it was certainly the world number threes to lose as he averaged 106.69 to sink Dolan 6-3 and reach the Quarter Finals.
Fellow Dutchman Danny Noppert knocked van Gerwen out in event 9 at the Quarter Final stage in the only defeat of the weekend for the three-time world champion. His brilliance in Barnsley will certainly give him the confidence in the Premier League as he faces Gary Anderson in Leeds, after Jonny Clayton levelled with him at the top of the table after winning in Birmingham on Thursday.
Danny Jansen came into Friday not knowing what was going to happen at the end of the day, playing some amazing darts in winning event nine.
The Dutchman beat the likes of world number one Peter Wright in the Last 32 winning 6-5 against the current world champion. His best performance came in the Last 16 as he beat Krzysztof Ratajski with a 101.78 in a 6-5 win.
Jansen beat Chris Dobey and came through a very close game with Dave Chisnall in the semi-final as the averages were identical after the game with Chisnall averaging 0.04 more than his opponent. The match finished 7-6 and saw Jansen reach his first final of his PDC career.
UK Open winner Danny Noppert enjoyed a good Friday in Barnsley as he reached the semi-finals, losing to Andrew Gilding 7-4 in the semi-final of event nine. “The Freeze” put in some strong performances including dealing Michael van Gerwen his only defeat of the weekend, winning 6-2 with a 103.28 average.
He also beat Gary Anderson in the Quarter Finals as well as a 102.72 average in beating world number 15 Ryan Searle in the round prior, with Noppert taking out big names on his run to the semi-final. His match against Searle saw Noppert take out an eleven-dart leg to go 4-2 up against the Englishman breaking the throw in the match for the first time.
“The Silencer” Jeff Smith delivered his first strong performance of the year as he reached the Quarter Final stage in event 10 losing to Damon Heta 6-3. The Canadian beat Daryl Gurney in the second round 6-2 and beat Kevin Doets in the next round 6-4, who reached the semi-finals of Event 7 last week in Niederhausen.
Luke Humphries also reached another quarter final continuing his strong start to 2022. “Cool Hand” averaged more than opponent Jose de Sousa in the quarter final but lost in a last leg decider to the Portuguese.
The Englishman was very impressive though in his Last 16 tie, beating Rotterdam Premier League winner Joe Cullen with an average of 103.53 as he won 6-3 against “The Rockstar”
The Premier League returns on Thursday as the competition heads for Leeds in night nine, with league leaders Michael van Gerwen and Jonny Clayton in action against Gary Anderson and Joe Cullen.
Players Championship Event 9: Last 16
Mario Vandenbogaerde 6-4 Madars Razma
Dave Chisnall 6-5 Kim Huybrechts
Danny Jansen 6-5 Krzysztof Ratajski
Chris Dobey 6-2 Callan Rydz
Michael van Gerwen 6-3 Jonny Clayton
Danny Noppert 6-4 Gary Anderson
Jose de Sousa 6-4 Raymond van Barneveld
Andrew Gilding 6-4 Rob Cross
Quarter Finals:
Dave Chisnall 6-4 Mario Vandenbogaerde
Danny Jansen 6-4 Chris Dobey
Danny Noppert 6-2 Michael van Gerwen
Andrew Gilding 6-3 Jose de Sousa
Semi Finals:
Danny Jansen 7-6 Dave Chisnall
Andrew Gilding 7-4 Danny Noppert
Final:
Danny Jansen 8-6 Andrew Gilding
Players Championship Event 10: Last 16
Jeff Smith 6-5 Darius Labanauskas
Damon Heta 6-3 Dimitri van den Bergh
Peter Wright 6-4 Keegan Brown
Nathan Aspinall 6-2 Gabriel Clemens
Michael van Gerwen 6-3 Brendan Dolan
Adrian Lewis 6-2 Ross Smith
Jose de Sousa 6-5 Stephen Bunting
Luke Humphries 6-3 Joe Cullen
Quarter Finals:
Damon Heta 6-3 Jeff Smith
Peter Wright 6-5 Nathan Aspinall
Michael van Gerwen 6-5 Adrian Lewis
Jose de Sousa 6-5 Luke Humphries
Semi Finals:
Peter Wright 7-3 Damon Heta
Michael van Gerwen 7-6 Jose de Sousa
Final:
Michael van Gerwen 8-4 Peter Wright
—–ENDS—–
Words: Harry Masterson
Image: PDC
