Nathan Rafferty and Jurjen van der Velde shared victories on Friday as the year's second Winmau Development Tour weekend began in Wigan.

Rafferty edged out Lewy Williams 5-4 in a tight final, with the Welshman unable to take out 86 in the deciding leg before the Northern Irish prospect scooped the £2,000 title, his fifth on the Development Tour.

Rafferty overcame UK Open quarter-finalist Sebastian Bialecki in one of eight wins in the event, and also whitewashed Chris Birch and Jacob Gwynne before defeating Rusty-Jake Rodriguez 5-3 in the quarter-finals and Jarred Cole 5-1 in the semi-finals.

Williams had begun Event Six with three successive whitewashes, against Mikey Rees, Justin van Tergouw and Lloyd Walker, and saw off German prospect Fabian Schmutzler before edging past Geert Nentjes 5-4 in the semis.

However, the Welsh youngster was left agonisingly close to picking up his maiden Development Tour win.

Nentjes produced the event's highest two averages of 113.43 and 109.31 in victories over Fransy Kalis and Thomas Turner respectively in his best run so far in 2022.

Van der Velde took victory in Event Seven to conclude Friday's double-header, winning an all-Dutch final with Nentjes 5-1.

The 19-year-old had been a winner on the European Development Tour in 2021, and claimed another £2,000 title with a dominant display against Nentjes.

He also won an all-Dutch semi-final with Van Tergouw 5-2, produced his highest average of the event in the last eight in a 5-2 defeat of Dylan Slevin and whitewashed James Roach.

Nentjes ended Rafferty's bid for back-to-back titles with a 5-4 semi-final success, and also defeated Rodrigues in the last eight after dropping just two legs in his opening five games.

Rafferty and Williams had clashed again in the quarter-finals, with the Northern Irishman running out a 5-3 winner on this occasion.

The Winmau Development Tour weekend continues on Saturday with Events Eight & Nine, with a further £20,000 in prize money on offer for young stars, before Sunday sees the action conclude with Event Ten.

The winner of the 2022 Development Tour Order of Merit will win a PDC Tour Card for 2023-24 and a place in the 2022/23 World Championship.

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