After almost a decade on the circuit, Jermaine Wattimena has finally landed his first PDC title, defeating Germany’s Lukas Wenig 8–5 in Hildesheim.
The Dutchman, who finished runner-up to Richie Edhouse in the European Championship final last year, shed his bridesmaid tag on his fifth appearance in a Players Championship final.
With many of the sport’s big names opting to skip the trip to Hildesheim, the door was open for others to step out of the shadows – and that’s exactly what Sebastian Bialecki did yesterday. Wattimena followed suit this afternoon, giving us back-to-back maiden winners.
The Machine Gun came out blazing, averaging well over a ton to dispatch stablemate José de Sousa and then Rob Owen. He then strung together a hat-trick of 6–4 wins – over Gabriel Clemens, Danny Noppert, and Ryan Joyce – to reach the semi-finals.
Bradley Brooks, who recently enjoyed his own Players Championship breakthrough, was eyeing a second title. But the 37-year-old Wattimena came flying out of the blocks, racing into a 4–0 lead and never letting Bam Bam get close enough to make it interesting.In the final, Wenig – also appearing in his first Players Championship decider – came through an epic semi-final against Wessel Nijman.
For the second time in as many days, we had a final where someone was guaranteed their first PDC crown.Wenig led 2–1 early on, but Wattimena responded by reeling off three consecutive legs to build a handy cushion. The German fought back to level things up, setting up a best-of-seven sprint to the finish.Wattimena then upped the tempo once more, moving 6–4 ahead.
Wenig kept the pressure on, but the Dutchman held firm to clinch his long-awaited title.Despite both players being below par on doubles, the scoring was solid throughout. In the end, Wattimena simply scored that little bit better – and after years of knocking on the door, it finally opened.
—–Ends—–
