MICHAEL VAN GERWEN is hoping to enjoy further success against Justin Pipe when the pair meet in the German Darts Championship European Tour event on Friday.
Dutch ace van Gerwen produced a brilliant performance to defeat Pipe in the quarter-finals of Sunday's Players Championship before going on to claim the £6,000 first prize in Birmingham with a 6-1 win over Simon Whitlock in the final.
Van Gerwen also won 6-1 in his game with Pipe, averaging 108.94 and winning his six legs in 14, 14, 17, 11, 11 and 15 darts in a fine display.
The duo will meet again in the first round of this weekend's European Tour Event Two in Berlin, and van Gerwen is eagerly awaiting the clash against April's Event One champion.
"Against Justin I played a 109 average and I feel great about that," said van Gerwen. "I play him again [in Berlin] in the first round so I'm looking forward to that.
"He's a brilliant player. He's slow, but if I keep my head like I did on Sunday I can beat him again and I'm looking forward to playing him."
Van Gerwen is known as one of the quickest players on the circuit, but showed his maturity by defeating some of the sport's more deliberate throwers - Pipe, Dennis Priestley and Mark Walsh - on his way to Sunday's victory.
"I showed that I can play against slower players like Justin Pipe, Mark Walsh and Dennis Priestley and that will give me a lot of confidence," he said.
"A couple of of years ago I would have given games away because I played badly, and I was irritating myself.
"Now, I'm more like a man. I take my time and I played some good darts, so I'm happy with that."
The win was van Gerwen's second on the PDC ProTour this year, having also taken victory in a Speedy Services UK Open Qualifier in February, and means he is now likely to qualify for all the major televised events in the remainder of 2012.
"It's the third ProTour event I've won since I joined the PDC and I played some good darts," added van Gerwen, who is ranked 35th in the PDC Order of Merit.
"I'm very happy to have won and it should help me qualify for the World Grand Prix as well as the World Matchplay, which is great."
Follow the German Darts Championship European Tour event with PDC.tv from June 22-24 from the Tempodrom in Berlin.
Click here for the German Darts Championship draw & schedule of play