Alexander Merkx and Andreas Harrysson were victorious on Saturday, in winning Winmau Challenge Tour Events 21 & 22 respectively.
The final weekend of the PDC’s second tier tour season commenced at the Mattioli Arena, Leicester.
Merkx, who was victorious at Event 16 back in August, went all the way once again in Event 21, as he reached the final firstly by recording victories against Colin Tyrer, Martin Thomas, Simon Perkins, Darren Armstrong, Thomas Lovely and Franz Roetzsch, to set up a clash with Darryl
Pilgrim.
The final began with Merkx racing into a 2-0 lead, with winning legs coming in 18 and 14 darts respectively, before Pilgrim hit back by winning back-to-back legs of his own in 18 and 15 darts to square the tie up at 2apiece. Dutchman, Merkx, then went on to dominate the remainder of the tie by winning three of the following four legs, as he sealed the victory in Leg Eight with a 16 darter to pick up a second Challenge Tour title of the year as well as the £2,500 top prize.
In Event 22, Andreas Harrysson was victorious, with the Swede reaching the final firstly by recording victories against John Bowles, Sam Spivey, Patrick Lynskey, Derek Barry, Cam Crabtree, Aden Kirk and Sebastian Bialecki, to set up a clash with Belgium’s Stefaan Henderyck.
The final began with Henderyck racing into a 2-0 lead, with winning legs coming in 14 and 16 darts respectively, before Harrysson produced a remarkable run of five successive legs, which saw him seal the victory in Leg Seven with an 18 darter to pick up a maiden PDC title as well as the £2,500 top prize.
The PDC Winmau Challenge Tour season concludes on Sunday, with Events 23 & 24 taking place in Leicester, with play commencing at 10:30 GMT, as all live scores and results can be viewed at tv.dartconnect.com.
The top two players on the final 2024 Challenge Tour Order of Merit will
seal a PDC Tour Card for 2025/26 and a place at the 2024/25 Paddy Power World Darts
Championship.
Also, the winner of the Challenge Tour Order of Merit will book a place at this
month’s Grand Slam of Darts in Wolverhampton.
PDC Winmau Challenge Tour
Event 21
Quarter Finals
Alexander Merkx 5-4 Thomas Lovely
Franz Roetzsch 5-4 Justin Hood
Darryl Pilgrim 5-2 Stefan Bellmont
Dragutin Horvat 5-1 Shane McGuirk
Semi Finals
Alexander Merkx 5-1 Franz Roetzsch
Darryl Pilgrim 5-0 Dragutin Horvat
Final
Alexander Merkx 5-3 Darryl Pilgrim
Event 22
Quarter Finals
Stefaan Henderyck 5-3 Daniel Ayres
Darius Labanauskas 5-4 Alexander Merkx
Sebastian Bialecki 5-3 Franz Roetzsch
Andreas Harrysson 5-2 Aden Kirk
Semi Finals
Stefaan Henderyck 5-4 Darius Labanauskas
Andreas Harrysson 5-3 Sebastian Bialecki
Final
Andreas Harrysson 5-2 Stefaan Henderyck
—–Ends—–
Images: Harryson
