Clinical Cross denies De Decker to clinch 1st title of the year
Rob Cross picked up his first PDC title of the year on Saturday, as he defeated Mike De Decker 8-3 in the final of Players Championship 11, as the Pro Tour weekend commenced at the Morningside Arena, Leicester.
Cross, who’s last ranking title came back in October, reached the final firstly by recording victories against Owen Roelofs, Florian Hempel, Scott Waites, Lee Evans, Joe Murnan and Radek Szaganski, to set up a clash with De Decker.
The final with De Decker taking the opener in 18 darts, before Cross charged in front by winning five of the following six legs to move 5-2 ahead in a race to eight.
De Decker then won the following leg, before Cross rattled off three consecutive legs in 14, 15 and 18 darts respectively, sealing the victory with a stunning 146 checkout and picking up the £12,000 top prize.
De Decker’s run to a first senior final saw the Belgian record victories against Harry Ward, Luc Peters, Luke Humphries, Jurjen Van der Velde, Gerwyn Price and Niels Zonneveld, before being denied by Cross, but ‘The Real Deal’ has put himself in pole position to qualify The Betfred World Matchplay in July for the first time in his career.
Elsewhere, there were Quarter Final runs for Joe Cullen and Jimmy Hendriks, with the likes of Michael Van Gerwen, Jonny Clayton and Gary Anderson among the names to suffer first round exits.
The PDC Pro Tour weekend concludes on Sunday with Players Championship Twelve taking place in Leicester, with the 128 players returning to compete for a further £100,000 in prize money, with play beginning at 13:00 BST.
Play will be broadcasted across four streaming boards on PDC.TV and various bookmaker websites worldwide, with all live scores and results on tv.dartconnect.com.
Players Championship 11
Last 16
Joe Murnan 6-4 Dave Chisnall
Rob Cross 6-0 Lee Evans
Joe Cullen 6-5 Ryan Joyce
Radek Szaganski 6-2 Simon Whitlock
Mike De Decker 6-5 Jurjen Van der Velde
Gerwyn Price 6-1 Scott Williams
Niels Zonneveld 6-3 Kevin Doets
Jimmy Hendriks 6-3 James Wade
Quarter Finals
Rob Cross 6-1 Joe Murnan
Radek Szaganski 6-1 Joe Cullen
Mike De Decker 6-5 Gerwyn Price
Niels Zonneveld 6-3 Jimmy Hendriks
Semi Finals
Rob Cross 7-6 Radek Szaganski
Mike De Decker 7-5 Niels Zonneveld
Final
Rob Cross 8-3 Mike De Decker
—–Ends—–
Images: PDC
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