MICHAEL VAN GERWEN is looking to continue his rise up the PDC Order of Merit in the remainder of 2012.
The Dutch ace reached his first major PDC quarter-final at the Betfair World Matchplay, when a nine-darter in a thrilling display against Steve Beaton in the second round lit up the Winter Gardens.
The 23-year-old's success on last year's PDC Unicorn Youth Tour has helped to reignite his career, having struggled to break into the world's elite since joining the PDC circuit in 2007 as a teenage prodigy.
However, after winning two ProTour titles already this year, he is likely to qualify for the remaining televised events at the PartyPoker.net European Championship, PartyPoker.com World Grand Prix and Cash Converters Players Championship.
And after moving up to 29th in the world rankings, he is intending to keep rising as the year continues in September following a summer break.
"I played a good tournament [in Blackpool] and I'm making some good progression at the moment," said van Gerwen. "I'm hoping I can continue this in the next few months.
"I'm going to work on my game and hopefully I can keep playing well in the next tournament.
"I think I can do better and move up the rankings. I've not got much money to defend in the rest of the year anyway but it's all about me practising and putting on good performances in TV events now.
"I hope I can have a good rest of the year."
Van Gerwen had overcome Simon Whitlock in the first round of the World Matchplay before hitting his nine-darter, six ton-plus finishes and a 105 average against Beaton, before losing out to James Wade in the quarter-finals.
"It wasn't only the nine-darter, but the whole match against Steve Beaton was superb for me," he reflected. "It was a great night.
"The quarter-final was a big disappointment for me and I think I could have played a lot better.
"James played well and took out some good finishes. If I'd made it 12-all then anything might have happened but he made it 13-11 and then had a very good leg to get away."
Watch Michael van Gerwen's nine-dart finish & Betfair World Matchplay highlights in LIVEPDC