Chizzy Hits 9-Darter as Smith Triumphs in Hildesheim

Michael Smith came from 5-1 down on Monday to defeat Gary Anderson 8-7 in the final of Players Championship 13, as the midweek PDC Pro Tour double header commenced at Halle 39, Hildesheim.

Smith, who’s last Players Championship success came just under a year ago, reached the final firstly by recording victories against Richard Veenstra, Andy Boulton, Keegan Brown, James Wade, Danny Lauby and Connor Scutt, to set up a clash with Anderson.

The final began with the pair holding each other’s throw in the opening two legs, before Anderson rattled off four consecutive legs in a total of 66 darts to move 5-1 ahead in a race to eight. Smith then fought back by winning five of the following six legs to square the match up at six apiece and make the tie a best of three contest. Anderson went on to win the following leg in 22 darts, with Smith needing to win the remaining two legs to keep his title hopes alive, in which he did so by firing in 14 and 15 dart legs respectively to seal the victory against the Scot and pick up a third title of the year since being crowned World Champion.

Anderson’s run to the final saw the two-time World Champion record victories against Maik Kuivenhoven, Geert Nentjes, Scott Williams, Raymond Van Barneveld, Chris Dobey and Damon Heta, before being denied by his former apprentice and the chance to pick up back-to-back Pro Tour titles in Hildesheim, after his success at PC8 back in March.

Elsewhere, there were Quarter Finals for Welsh Number One Gerwyn Price and Philippine star Christian Perez, who was competing in his first Pro Tour event since winning his Tour Card at Qualifying School back in January, whilst the likes of Former World Champion Rob Cross and European Champion Ross Smith were among the names to suffer first round exits, with Dave Chisnall firing in a nine dart leg during his third round defeat to Germany’s Ricardo Pietreczko.

The PDC Pro Tour midweek double header concludes on Tuesday with Players Championship Fourteen taking place in Hildesheim, with the 128 players returning to compete for a further £100,000 in prize money, with play beginning at 13:00 local time (12:00 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.