PETER WRIGHT completed a superb weekend at the Coral UK Open Qualifiers in Wigan with his second victory in three days as he edged out Michael Smith 6-5 in Sunday's final.

The world number three had been victorious on Friday in the first of six UK Open Qualifiers as players bid to win spots in next month's Coral UK Open TV Finals in Minehead.

After losing out to eventual champion Simon Whitlock at the last 16 stage in Qualifier Two on Saturday, Wright bounced back to go all the way to take the £10,000 title once more as the weekend concluded.

Once a day which featured the first nine-dart finish of 2017 - from youngster Ted Evetts - Wright overcame Stuart Dutton, Lee Bryant, Paul Harvey with 6-2 scorelines before dropping just one leg against Stephen Bunting.

He then secured a superb 6-4 victory over World Champion Michael van Gerwen in the quarter-finals - his first defeat of the world number one since June 2015 in Japan as he suffered 16 successive losses - before defeating Mick Todd 6-2 in the semi-finals.

Wright then made a superb start to his final with Smith by landing a 180 as he broke in the opening leg, with the former World Youth Champion levelling and then punishing four misses from the Scot in leg four to move 2-1 up.

Wright landed another 180 before taking out 68 in the fourth, while Smith landed three 180s in taking two of the next three before breaking for a 5-3 cushion.

Wright, though, posted two maximums in an 11-darter to break back in leg nine and another pair of 180s as an 81 bull finish forced a decider, and when Smith missed two darts at tops for victory it was the world number three who pounced on double eight.

Smith's run to the final was his best display on the circuit since last June, when he was the runner-up in the Austrian Darts Open, as the St Helens ace scooped £5,000 in prize money.

Smith followed up his opening win over Paul Nicholson with defeats of Jamie Bain, Adrian Lewis and James Wade before then defeating Spain's Cristo Reyes in the quarter-finals.

He edged out Stoke's Ian White 6-5 in the semi-finals, but went on to lose by the same scoreline in the decider as a seventh senior PDC title eluded the 26-year-old.

White's run to the last four followed up Saturday's quarter-final appearance, as he defeated Michael Rasztovits, Martin Schindler, Ted Evetts, Steve Beaton and Mervyn King.

Mick Todd was the day's other semi-finalist as he enjoyed his best-ever run on the PDC ProTour, following up Saturday's run to the last 32 with wins over Callum Loose, Mark Dudbridge, Darren Johnson, Joe Davis, Stuart Kellett and Alan Norris to secure his fifth UK Open appearance.

Van Gerwen's quarter-final appearance was his best finish of the weekend, and he was joined in the last eight by Reyes, King and Norris, while Beaton followed up two quarter-finals with a last 16 finish on Sunday.

Qualifier Three also featured the first nine-dart finish of 2017 as Southam's Ted Evetts, the youngest PDC Tour Card Holder at 19, achieved a perfect leg in his memorable third round win over Simon Whitlock.

The final three Coral UK Open Qualifiers, each worth £60,000 in prize money, will be held next weekend at the Robin Park Tennis Centre, featuring PDC Tour Card Holders and PDPA Associate Members.

Following the completion of the six UK Open Qualifiers, the top 96 players from the UK Open Order of Merit progress to compete alongside 32 Rileys Amateur Qualifiers in the Coral UK Open TV Finals from March 3-5 at the Butlins Minehead Resort, live on ITV4.

The Coral UK Open Qualifiers are streamed live at www.livepdc.tv for all PDCTV-HD Subscribers worldwide as well as through a series of bookmakers' websites, with coverage from two boards simultaneously.

NB: From Sunday's original entries, Gary Anderson, Mensur Suljovic and Rowby-John Rodriguez did not compete.