PETER WRIGHT won his first PDC title of the year with a 6-4 victory over Rob Cross in the final of Players Championship 14 at the Robin Park Tennis Centre in Wigan on Sunday.
The world number two held off a fightback from reigning World Champion Cross, who was bidding for a second Players Championship crown of the weekend.
Wright secured wins over Ross Twell, Davy Van Baelen, Josh Payne, Toni Alcinas, Dimitri Van den Bergh, Jermaine Wattimena and Cross en route to clinching the £10,000 top prize.
A winner of seven Players Championship titles in his career, Wright had reached four PDC ranking event finals in 2018 before going all the way in Sunday’s tournament.
“I thought I was going to throw it away there, I was glad to see the winning dart go in,” said Wright.
“My form has been very inconsistent, I can’t explain why but hopefully I’ve got that sorted now and I’ll be on the up from here.
“I had so much confidence coming into the weekend and I said I was going to win both titles, but to win one tournament with the standard of play here is a big achievement so I’m happy with that.
“I feel like I’ve been coming into form recently, it’s just a case of building some consistency now to keep winning more titles.”
Wright took an early advantage in the tie, breaking the Cross throw in the opening leg before doubling his advantage in the following leg.
Cross pulled one back before Wright landed a 76 finish to restore his two-leg cushion, and the former UK Open Champion won the next two legs to go within a leg of victory at 5-1.
Yesterday’s winner Cross fought back to 5-4 and then missed three darts at double to level, only for Wright to land double eight with his final dart in hand to seal the Players Championship 14 title.
Earlier in the day, Cross continued his successful weekend as he saw off William O’Connor, Mark Webster, Martin Schindler, Ryan Meikle, Adam Hunt and Michael Smith to win through to his third ProTour final of the year.
Elsewhere, Daryl Gurney was beaten by Dirk van Duijvenbode in round three, Mensur Suljovic went down to Jeffrey de Graaf in the second round and Dave Chisnall lost to Smith in the quarter-finals.
Simon Whitlock was also eliminated at the quarter-final stage by Jermaine Wattimena, as the Dutchman reached the final four for a second day in a row, while James Wade lost to Jason Lowe in the first round.
The next Players Championship events will be held on June 26-27 at The Barnsley Metrodome and will be streamed live on PDCTV-HD across both days.
See full Players Championship 14 results in the Match Centre.
Players Championship 14
Sunday June 17, Robin Park Tennis Centre, Wigan
Last 16
Peter Wright 6-2 Toni Alcinas
Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-4 Jamie Lewis
Simon Whitlock 6-5 Jonny Clayton
Jermaine Wattimena 6-4 Danny Noppert
Rob Cross 6-3 Ryan Meikle
Adam Hunt 6-4 Nathan Aspinall
Dave Chisnall 6-5 Dirk van Duijvenbode
Michael Smith 6-2 Max Hopp
Quarter-Finals
Peter Wright 6-4 Dimitri Van den Bergh
Jermaine Wattimena 6-1 Simon Whitlock
Rob Cross 6-2 Adam Hunt
Michael Smith 6-4 Dave Chisnall
Semi-Finals
Peter Wright 6-5 Jermaine Wattimena
Rob Cross 6-2 Michael Smith
Final
Peter Wright 6-4 Rob Cross