Nijman Graduates to Senior Class

Wessel Nijman secured his first senior PDC title with a superb victory in Players Championship 24 in Wigan on Tuesday, defeating Stephen Bunting 8-5 in a high-quality final.

The 24-year-old Dutchman has begun to shine at the top level in recent months, reaching a Players Championship final in July and a European Tour quarter-final in Budapest during September.

Having also won eight Winmau Development Tour events since returning to competition following suspension in 2023, Nijman has now secured a £15,000 ProTour title for the first time.

“I’ve felt like it was coming,” said Nijman. “I thought [I had to] be patient and it will come.

“In the start of the year I was hitting 100 averages but I felt I was a bit unlucky losing those games, and then I started to hit those match darts.

“It’s probably the best months of my darting career – I knew I could win it when I was in the final.

“My goal was to get in the top 64 after two years; I’ll probably get into it after one year so I’m very happy with that.”

The triumph – in the first of three successive events in Wigan this week – saw Nijman fire in ton-plus averages against Radek Szaganski, Ryan Searle and Jose De Sousa, while he only dropped three legs in his opening three games.

Nijman then defeated Krzysztof Ratajski 6-2 in the quarter-finals with another dominant display before ending Gary Anderson’s brilliant run with a 7-5 semi-final success.

Bunting took out 100 twice as he took a 2-0 lead in the final, but Nijman fired back with five straight legs as he took command.

The Dutchman also extended his lead to 7-3 before Bunting recovered from surviving three missed match darts to pull back to 7-5.

However, the 2024 Masters champion missed two darts at doubles to continue his fightback, and Nijman stepped in on double 18 to join the elite list of ProTour event winners.

Bunting was bidding to end a three-year wait for a Players Championship win, and progressed to his third final of the year with a string of impressive displays – averaging between 92-103 throughout the event.

He overcame Danny Jansen, Stephen Burton, Jermaine Wattimena and Danny Noppert to reach the quarter-finals, before prevailing in a deciding leg against Ted Evetts and Luke Littler to reach the final – where he averaged over 101 in defeat.

Anderson performed beautifully throughout the event in his run to the semi-finals, hitting a nine-darter in a last 64 victory against Jamie Hughes and averaging 114 to see off World Champion Luke Humphries.

The Scot also averaged over 104 against Jules van Dongen, 111 against Dimitri Van den Bergh and almost 109 in a quarter-final defeat of Dom Taylor, only to lose out to Nijman in the last four.

Premier League champion Littler produced a pair of ton-topping averages in five wins as he progressed to the semis, where he went down to Bunting to see his hopes of a fourth Players Championship triumph ended.

Former World Youth Champion Ted Evetts won through to the quarter-finals in his first Players Championship appearance of the year, having come into the event as one of the reserve players from the Challenge Tour Order of Merit who replace missing Tour Card Holders.

The Warwickshire ace impressed on his return to the ProTour, defeating Michael Smith, Kim Huybrechts, Jonny Clayton and Ross Smith before losing out in a decider to Bunting.

Bristol’s Taylor and Dutchman Martin Dragt enjoyed their best run since winning a Tour Card in January as they both reached the quarter-finals, while Poland’s Ratajski was appearing in the last eight for the fourth time in 2024.

The Players Championship treble-header continues on Wednesday from 1300 local time, with action from four streams simultaneously being streamed on PDCTV.