PETER WRIGHT produced a fantastic display of darts at the K2 Centre in Crawley to win his second ranking title thanks to a 6-1 victory over Wes Newton in Saturday's Players Championship 5 final.
Wright, who reached the semi-finals of the Speedy Services UK Open in Bolton a fortnight ago, began his memorable day with wins over Kirk Shepherd, Steve West and Keegan Brown to reach the last 16 stage by continuing his fine form.
There he edged out James Richardson with a deciding leg victory before producing an astonishing 118.66 average in a ten minute demolition of Gary Anderson to reach the last four.
Wright followed up that whitewash win over the former Premier League champion by denying Kevin Painter a place in the final - overcoming the former World Championship finalist with a 6-3 triumph.
Wright continued the fine form as he started the final brilliantly against Newton, as he won the opening three legs of the contest to establish complete command.
Newton stemmed the tide by hitting double 18 to win the fourth leg before Wright hit the same double to regain his cushion at 4-1.
Wright broke his opponent’s throw to win the sixth leg and recorded consecutive 180s in the next, before landing double eight to round off a superb performance.
Newton, who was the nine-dart hero at the UK Open, began his run to a second final of the year with a 6-4 win over Finland’s Veijo Viinikka before overcoming the challenges of Ryan Harrington and Nigel Heydon.
The put the world number seven through to the last 16, where he defeated Mensur Suljovic by a 6-1 margin before coming from 5-4 down to edge out Dave Chisnall in a last leg thriller in the quarter-finals.
Newton then put together an excellent display to defeat Michael van Gerwen with a 6-4 semi-final win but was powerless to stop the brilliant Wright in the decider.
Dutch ace van Gerwen was once again in superb form as he beat Joe Cullen with a 104 average before disposing of Terry Jenkins in the last eight with a 110.72 average before falling to Newton in the last four.
Kevin Painter reached his second semi-final on the PDC ProTour in 2013, which included excellent wins over Jamie Caven and Adrian Lewis before losing to Wright in the last four, as the Lowestoft thrower averaged over 106 to end his hopes.
Top 16 stars Dave Chisnall, Gary Anderson and Terry Jenkins all produced good runs to the quarter-final stage along with York’s Terry Temple, who also put together an excellent performance at the UK Open, where he reached the last 16, before picking up a further £1,500 prize money in Crawley.
Adrian Lewis knocked out top four rival James Wade on the way to last 16 stage, where he lost to Painter, and Simon Whitlock also fell at the same stage after missing a total of six match darts in the deciding leg of his clash against Anderson.
Phil Taylor comfortably beat Matthew Edgar in his opening game but had to come from 5-3 down to defeat Sweden’s Magnus Caris in a deciding leg to reach the last 32, and the world number’s one luck run out in the third round as he lost 6-3 to Anderson in a high-quality encounter in which both players averaged 103.
Bristol’s Steve Brown hit a fantastic nine-dart finish in the second leg of his second round clash against Ireland’s Connie Finnan, but was brought back to earth with a bump as he suffered a 6-0 defeat in his next game to Bradford’s Joe Cullen.
Sunday sees a second Players Championship contested at the K2 Centre in Crawley, which marks the cut-off point for qualification into the PartyPoker.net European Championships, taking place in Mulheim, Germany, next month.
Players Championship 5
K2 Centre, Crawley
Saturday June 22
First Round
Michael van Gerwen (1) Bye
Jelle Klaasen 6-3 Dennis Smith
Wayne Jones (32) 6-1 Gino Vos
John Bowles 6-2 Jim Walker
Steve Brown 6-4 Andy Hamilton (16)
Connie Finnan 6-4 Michael Barnard
Colin Lloyd (17) 6-1 Mark Hylton
Joe Cullen 6-5 Darren Webster
John Part (8) 6-3 Scott Rand
Daryl Gurney 6-2 Tomas Seyler
Terry Jenkins (25) 6-5 Vernon Sheppard
John Henderson 6-1 Richie Howson
Johnny Haines 6-2 Mervyn King (9)
David Pallett 6-2 Joe Murnan
Peter Hudson 6-0 Andy Smith (24)
Ricky Sudale 6-3 Prakash Jiwa
Wes Newton (5) 6-4 Veijo Viinika
Ryan Harrington 6-3 Jerry Hendriks
Arron Monk (28) 6-5 Michael Smith
Nigel Heydon 6-1 Colin Fowler
Paul Nicholson (12) 6-2 James Hubbard
Jamie Lewis 6-2 Antonio Alcinas
Mensur Suljovic 6-5 Brendan Dolan (21)
Vincent van der Voort 6-2 Matthew Dicken
Dave Chisnall (4) 6-0 Josh Payne
Matt Clark 6-5 Jyhan Artut
Lee Palfreyman 6-4 Richie Burnett (29)
Michael Mansell 6-5 Gaz Cousins
Ian White (13) 6-3 John Scott
Alex Roy 6-5 Dan Russell
Justin Pipe (20) 6-2 Keith Stephen
Ross Smith 6-1 Ted Hankey
Simon Whitlock (2) Bye
Roland Scholten 6-5 Stephen Hardy
Colin Osborne (31) 6-1 Andrew Gilding
Ronny Huybrechts 6-2 Ryan De Vreede
Phil Taylor (15) 6-1 Matthew Edgar
Magnus Caris 6-3 Mark Jones
Gary Anderson (18) 6-4 Shaun Griffiths
Chris Aubrey 6-5 Michael Blake
Adrian Gray 6-0 Kim Huybrechts (7)
Nick Fullwell 6-2 Darren Johnson
James Richardson 6-2 Mark Walsh (26)
Kevin McDine 6-5 William O'Connor
Peter Wright (10) 6-2 Kirk Shepherd
Steve West 6-5 Martyn Turner
Steve Beaton (23) 6-3 Leon de Geus
Keegan Brown 6-2 Darren Whittingham
Jamie Caven (6) 6-2 Steve Grubb
Co Stompe 6-3 Dean Winstanley
Kevin Painter (27) 6-0 Paul Barham
Paul Amos 6-3 Campbell Jackson
Adrian Lewis (11) 6-2 Ricky Evans
Jon Jukes 6-2 Alan Tabern
James Wade (22) 6-3 Kevin Dowling
Jarkko Komula 6-3 Steve Hine
Robert Thornton (3) 6-1 Mark Dudbridge
Mark Frost 6-3 David Dodds
Mark Webster (30) 6-1 Darron Brown
Joey Palfreyman 6-2 Reece Robinson
Steve Farmer 6-4 Ronnie Baxter (14)
Terry Temple 6-5 Andy Jenkins
Stuart Kellett (19) 6-2 Mark Cox
Jani Haavisto 6-5 Tony West
Second Round
Michael van Gerwen 6-2 Jelle Klaasen
John Bowles 6-5 Wayne Jones
Steve Brown 6-2 Connie Finnan - Steve Brown hits nine-dart finish
Joe Cullen 6-4 Colin Lloyd
John Part 6-5 Daryl Gurney
Terry Jenkins 6-0 John Henderson
David Pallett 6-2 Johnny Haines
Ricky Sudale 6-2 Peter Hudson
Wes Newton 6-1 Ryan Harrington
Nigel Heydon 6-3 Arron Monk
Paul Nicholson 6-4 Jamie Lewis
Mensur Suljovic 6-4 Vincent van der Voort
Dave Chisnall 6-2 Matt Clark
Michael Mansell 6-3 Lee Palfreyman
Ian White 6-2 Alex Roy
Justin Pipe 6-5 Ross Smith
Simon Whitlock 6-4 Roland Scholten
Colin Osborne 6-5 Ronny Huybrechts
Phil Taylor 6-5 Magnus Caris
Gary Anderson 6-2 Chris Aubrey
Adrian Gray 6-3 Nick Fullwell
James Richardson 6-2 Kevin McDine
Peter Wright 6-4 Steve West
Keegan Brown 6-2 Steve Beaton
Jamie Caven 6-1 Co Stompe
Kevin Painter 6-5 Paul Amos
Adrian Lewis 6-2 Jon Jukes
James Wade 6-1 Jarkko Komula
Robert Thornton 6-2 Mark Frost
Joey Palfreyman 6-3 Mark Webster
Terry Temple 6-2 Steve Farmer
Stuart Kellett 6-1 Jani Haavisto
Losers £250
Third Round
Michael van Gerwen 6-2 John Bowles
Joe Cullen 6-0 Steve Brown
Terry Jenkins 6-3 John Part
David Pallett 6-4 Ricky Sudale
Wes Newton 6-4 Nigel Heydon
Mensur Suljovic 6-2 Paul Nicholson
Dave Chisnall 6-5 Michael Mansell
Ian White 6-4 Justin Pipe
Simon Whitlock 6-0 Colin Osborne
Gary Anderson 6-3 Phil Taylor
James Richardson 6-2 Adrian Gray
Peter Wright 6-1 Keegan Brown
Kevin Painter 6-2 Jamie Caven
Adrian Lewis 6-3 James Wade
Joey Palfreyman 6-5 Robert Thornton
Terry Temple 6-2 Stuart Kellett
Losers £500
Fourth Round
Michael van Gerwen 6-5 Joe Cullen
Terry Jenkins 6-3 David Pallett
Wes Newton 6-1 Mensur Suljovic
Dave Chisnall 6-1 Ian White
Gary Anderson 6-5 Simon Whitlock
Peter Wright 6-5 James Richardson
Kevin Painter 6-4 Adrian Lewis
Terry Temple 6-0 Joey Palfreyman
Losers £1,000
Quarter-Finals
Michael van Gerwen 6-3 Terry Jenkins
Wes Newton 6-5 Dave Chisnall
Peter Wright 6-0 Gary Anderson
Kevin Painter 6-2 Terry Temple
Losers £1,500
Semi-Finals
Wes Newton 6-4 Michael van Gerwen
Peter Wright 6-3 Kevin Painter
Losers £2,500
Final
Peter Wright 6-1 Wes Newton
Winner £10,000
Runner-Up £5,000
Final - Leg-By-Leg
Wes Newton v Peter Wright
0-0 - Wright wins the bullseye and throws first
0-1 - Wright starts the final confidently with a brace of 140 scores before landing double 12 to win the first leg.
0-2 - Wright kicks-off with a 180 and wins the leg by converting a 64 finish after Newton is off-target with one dart at double top.
0-3 - The Scotsman holds throw with a 15-dart finish to take command of the contest.
1-3 - Newton hits double 18 to get a leg on the board and reduce the gap to his opponent.
1-4 - Wright restores his three leg advantage as he hits a 170 score before returning to land double 18 at the first attempt.
1-5 - Wright breaks Newton's throw for a second time with the aid of four ton plus scores.
1-6 - Wright storms to victory in style as he hits back-to-back 180s before hitting double eight to win the title.