Ross Smith celebrated one of the most dominant Players Championship victories of all-time on Tuesday, landing two nine-dart finishes on his way to a record-breaking triumph in Hildesheim.
Former European Champion Smith shattered a host of records to secure his sixth PDC ranking title, winning 24 consecutive legs in the latter stages of the tournament.
Smith also became just the third player – along with Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen – to land multiple nine-darters in the same Players Championship event.
The 36-year-old achieved perfection in his opening round tie against Dylan Slevin, before repeating those heroics in his last 16 clash against Chris Landman.
Landman levelled the tie at 3-3, sparking an astonishing run from Smith, who won the next three legs before whitewashing Danny Noppert, Luke Woodhouse and Brendan Dolan to take the title.
“I don’t actually think I played that well today, but I’m so happy with the win,” revealed Smith, who now moves up three places to world number 14.
“I’ve got the little plaques at home with the scoresheets from my Players Championship wins. They’re my little trophies, and they mean a lot to me.
“I’m going to add another one to the wall today, and it’s another incentive when I’m at home practising, because I want to win all the time; who doesn’t?
“I know I can be one of the best in the world. Consistency is a big thing, but I know I can win tournaments on a regular basis.
“If you’ve won a major title you can win anything. I honestly believe I’m going to win more, but I need to keep working hard.”
Following his opening round win over Slevin, Smith averaged 105 to dispatch another Irishman in Steve Lennon, before accounting for Croatia’s Pero Ljubic and Landman.
Smith then recorded a hat-trick of whitewash wins against Noppert, Woodhouse and Dolan, averaging 104.56 to dismantle Dolan, featuring a six-leg burst with legs of 14, 12, 13, 14, 12 and 14 darts.
Dolan had not progressed beyond the last 32 of a ranking event since March, but the Northern Irishman impressed at Halle 39 to pocket the £10,000 runner-up prize.
After defying a 104 average from fourth seed Damon Heta in round one, Dolan claimed a trio of 6-2 wins against Leon Weber, Madars Razma and Jim Long to book his place in the quarter-finals.
There, he ran out a 6-3 winner against a resurgent Dirk van Duijvenbode, before converting a stunning 143 checkout in the penultimate leg of his semi-final success against Gabriel Clemens.
Clemens enjoyed a welcome return to form on home soil, defeating top seed Dave Chisnall and Dutch legend Raymond van Barneveld to progress to his first ranking semi-final since November 2023.
Woodhouse, meanwhile, overcame the likes of Joe Cullen, Martin Schindler and Ricky Evans to reach the last four and strengthen his bid for Betfred World Matchplay qualification.
Evans dumped out Scotland’s World Cup duo Peter Wright and Gary Anderson in his run to the quarter-finals, as Dutch trio Van Duijvenbode, Noppert and Doets completed the quarter-final line-up.
The PDC ProTour season will continue with Players Championships 17-18 at Leicester’s Mattioli Arena on June 17-18, with coverage from four streaming boards broadcast live through PDCTV.
Click here for full tournament results.
Click here for match stats through DartConnect.
2025 Players Championship 16
Tuesday May 13
Halle 39, Hildesheim
Last 16
Gabriel Clemens 6-2 Raymond van Barneveld
Kevin Doets 6-2 Dominik Gruellich
Brendan Dolan 6-2 Jim Long
Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-0 Darius Labanauskas
Luke Woodhouse 6-4 Martin Schindler
Ricky Evans 6-5 Gary Anderson
Ross Smith 6-3 Chris Landman
Danny Noppert 6-5 Ryan Searle
Quarter-Finals
Gabriel Clemens 6-4 Kevin Doets
Brendan Dolan 6-3 Dirk van Duijvenbode
Luke Woodhouse 6-4 Ricky Evans
Ross Smith 6-0 Danny Noppert
Semi-Finals
Brendan Dolan 7-5 Gabriel Clemens
Ross Smith 7-0 Luke Woodhouse
Final
Ross Smith 8-0 Brendan Dolan
Nine-Darters!
Ross Smith hit a nine-darter during his first round tie against Dylan Slevin.
Ross Smith hit a nine-darter during his fourth round tie against Chris Landman.