Laursen Heads Danish Darts Open Qualifiers

European Tour

PER LAURSEN, Brian Lokken, Darius Labanauskas and Dennis Nilsson secured places in the inaugural Danish Darts Open.

2018 Players Championship 15-16 Entries

ProTour

ENTRIES have been confirmed for the midweek Players Championship double-header in Barnsley on June 26-27.

Wright Lands First Title of 2018

ProTour

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.

Cross Claims PC13 Title

ProTour

ROB CROSS claimed his first PDC title since being crowned World Champion with a 6-4 win over Ian White in the final of Players Championship 13 at the Robin Park Tennis Centre in Wigan on Saturday.

2018 Players Championship 13-14 Entries

ProTour

THE entries have been confirmed for Players Championship events 13 & 14, which will be held in Wigan on June 16-17.

Lopez Heads Gibraltar Qualifiers

European Tour

ANTONY LOPEZ was joined by three European Tour debutants in qualifying for the Gibraltar Darts Trophy.

Trio Seal Gibraltar & Denmark Spots

European Tour

MAX HOPP, Cristo Reyes & Jermaine Wattimena enjoyed a qualification double for the events in Gibraltar and Copenhagen.

Payne Clinches Second PDC Title

ProTour

JOSH PAYNE won his second PDC title at Players Championship 12 in Milton Keynes on Sunday.

Anderson Claims PC11 Title

ProTour

GARY ANDERSON beat Gabriel Clemens 6-5 to claim Player Championship 11 in Milton Keynes on Saturday.

Seven Seal ET7 & ET8 Qualifying Double

European Tour

SEVEN players secured places in both the Gibraltar Darts Trophy and Danish Darts Open at Friday's UK Qualifier in Milton Keynes.

Rob Cross continued his golden run of form to win Thursday's Players Championship 26 in Barnsley, defeating Ryan Searle 8-6 in a tight final.

Last Sunday's Cazoo European Championship winner claimed the £10,000 title at the Barnsley Metrodome to win his first Players Championship since June 2018 on another superb day of darts.

The 2018 World Champion averaged over 100 in five of his seven matches, picking up wins over Scottish World Cup-winning pair Peter Wright and John Henderson as well as defeating David Evans, Andy Hamilton and Vincent van der Voort.

He then defied a nine-darter from Madars Razma to win their semi-final 7-4, pulling clear from four-all to move into the title decider.

Cross dominated the final, taking out 124 on the bull to break in the opening leg, leading 2-0, 3-1 and 6-2 with some fine darts - including a pressure 96 in leg six to deny Searle a chance to level.

Searle took three legs in a row to reduce the gap to one leg at 6-5, but Cross produced a timely 14-darter to earn breathing space and responded to a 105 checkout from his opponent by finishing 76 to claim the title.

"It's great," said Cross. "It's so surprising what a bit of confidence does - I've played well this week.

"I feel like I'm never going to miss when I put that first dart in there. That's a kick-start, and the confidence on top made me a winner today.

"It's taken a lot of work. For 18-20 months I've been terrible.

"I seem to find that, when things all go wrong, you never enjoy it, and then all of a sudden you start to get a little bit of improvement and enjoy it a little bit more.

"I want to wear my heart on my sleeve, I want to enjoy it AND win. We're going to ride this crest of a wave."

Birthday boy Searle, who turned 34 on Thursday, averaged over 103 against Robert Thornton and Mike De Decker as well as seeing off Daryl Gurney, Michael Smith and Nathan Aspinall in his run to a third ProTour final of 2021.

However, he was denied a second title of the year, and a third ProTour win, as Cross emerged victorious in a battle between two players who progressed from the PDC Unicorn Challenge Tour in 2016.

"Ryan's brilliant, I've got a lot of admiration for him and for the last three months he's played great," added Cross. "He's reaping the benefits and so he should."

Latvia's Madars Razma enjoyed his best run in a ProTour event this year, defeating top seed Joe Cullen and Nordic rival Darius Labanauskas on his way to the semi-finals, where he achieved his nine-darter in defeat to Cross.

Aspinall reached his third semi-final inside a month before losing out to Searle, having defeated top 20 stars Gary Anderson, Krzysztof Ratajski, Jose de Sousa and Dirk van Duijvenbode.

Van der Voort and Van Duijvenbode were joined in the quarter-finals by Michael Smith and Luke Woodhouse, while world number two Peter Wright lost out in the last 16.

Michael van Gerwen was defeated in the last 32 by Daryl Gurney as the three-time World Champion lost despite a 107 average for the second time in three days.

Friday sees PDC Super Series 7 conclude with Players Championship 27, as 128 players compete in the fourth ProTour event of the week.

Drawboard