Gian van Veen continued his ascent towards the world’s top 20 with a run to his second European Tour final in Munich over the Easter weekend.
Van Veen claimed his maiden PDC ranking title at a Players Championship event last month, and he continued his terrific start to the year with a string of brilliant displays at the German Darts Grand Prix.
The World Youth Champion defeated Rene Eidams, Andrew Gilding, Martin Schindler, Ross Smith and Luke Littler to reach Monday’s showpiece, where he was beaten by his compatriot Michael van Gerwen.
Van Veen averaged 110.81 to defeat World Champion Littler in the semi-finals, and his exploits at the Zenith saw him climb to a career-high of world number 23.
Van Gerwen’s record-extending fourth German Darts Grand Prix triumph saw him walk away with the £30,000 top prize, and the Dutch superstar remains in third spot on the PDC Order of Merit.
The only change to the top ten saw Rob Cross overhaul Jonny Clayton and regain his place in the world’s top five, despite the Welshman winning his first ranking title of the year in Rosmalen last Tuesday.
Ryan Joyce marked his return to European Tour action with a quarter-final showing in Munich, following up a whitewash win over Damon Heta with victory over Niels Zonneveld to rise to world number 26.
Zonneveld dumped out Daryl Gurney and James Wade to continue his upward trajectory on the Order of Merit, as he continues to close in on the provisional qualification places for July’s World Matchplay.
The PDC Order of Merit comprises prize money won over a two-year period by players in PDC ranking events - click here to view the full PDC Order of Merit.
The PDC Order of Merit will next be open to change this weekend, when the Austrian Darts Open (ET5) takes place in Graz from April 25-27 - watch live on PDCTV.
