Dirk van Duijvenbode completes hat-trick of Players Championship titles in 2023
Dirk van Duijvenbode made it a hat-trick of ProTour titles in 2023 with victory at Players Championship Ten in Wigan on Sunday.
The in-form Dutchman had already scooped Players Championship titles in February and April and added a further £12,000 to his ranking by seeing off Jose de Sousa in Sunday’s final.
A high-quality day of darts from Van Duijvenbode also saw him see off UK Open champion Andrew Gilding and Premier League star Dimitri Van den Bergh en route to the title.
“I wanted three [titles] and I have three,” said Van Duijvenbode, who was also a runner-up on the European Tour in last month’s European Darts Open.
“I think I was a bit lucky today. I shouldn’t have been lucky but against Matt Campbell I should have won 6-3 or 6-2, and I didn’t finish it off and at the end he was better.
“I was lucky that I won it at the end and now I won the tournament. In the final, I was so happy with the 156. Jose was about to come back.
“Sometimes I think that knowing what you’re capable of, knowing you can hit two 180s in a row, you always feel confident. Sometimes you’re lucky, sometimes you’re not.”
The 2020 World Grand Prix finalist is now closing in on a spot in the world’s top ten for the first time – sitting less than £50,000 behind Van den Bergh.
“Two years ago when I made the top 32, I wanted to maintain the top 32 position because I didn’t think I was good enough to make the top 16 on a regular basis,” he added.
“Now the top ten is my goal for this year. The gap was very big between me and the top ten, I’m closing it but you won’t get it easily because they’re all good.
“I’m trying my best, trying to keep improving and not be satisfied. I need to be eager to keep on winning and keep on improving. I need to work on my confidence and my game is getting better every week.”
Van Duijvenbode found his trademark heavy-scoring form from the outset, opening up with a 106 average in thrashing Frenchman Jacques Labre 6-1, before edging out both Canada’s Matt Campbell and former World Youth Champion Bradley Brooks in deciding legs.
He then followed up a 6-2 win over Gilding by defeating fellow countryman Martijn Kleermaker by the same scoreline in the Quarter-Finals.
The world number 11 was pushed all the way by Van den Bergh in the Semi-Finals, but was an emphatic winner in the final after taking command against De Sousa by winning the opening five legs without reply.
The Portuguese ace took three of the next four to pull back to 6-3, despite Van Duijvenbode following up an earlier 113 checkout with a 156 combination, before the Dutch ace took the next two for victory.
De Sousa’s run to the final was comfortably his best performance of 2023 in a confidence-boosting day for the former Grand Slam champion.
He overcame top seed Luke Humphries and Germany’s Martin Schindler in deciding legs, and averaged over 100 in a 7-2 semi-final success over Ian White.
White’s wins over Karel Sedlacek, James Wade, Ronny Huybrechts, Luke Woodhouse and Damon Heta saw him reach a first semi-final since August 2021 and enjoy his best run on the circuit for almost ten months.
White was joined in the last four by Belgian star Van den Bergh, who whitewashed fellow countryman Robbie Knops in the first round and also saw off reigning World Youth Champion Josh Rock and World Championship semi-finalist Gabriel Clemens on Sunday.
Rock was one of two players, alongside Schindler, to achieve a nine-dart finish in Sunday’s event, while five-time World Champion Raymond van Barneveld posted a 113.6 average in his first round win over Mike De Decker.
Players Championship Ten Results
Sunday April 16
First Round
Raymond van Barneveld 6-1 Mike De Decker
Jurjen van der Velde 6-1 Keegan Brown
Luke Humphries 6-1 Nathan Rafferty
Darryl Pilgrim 6-3 Jamie Hughes
Stephen Bunting 6-2 Lewis Williams
Adam Smith-Neale 6-4 Stephen Burton
Jose De Sousa 6-1 Joe Murnan
Radek Szaganski 6-4 Richie Burnett
Brian Raman 6-2 Martin Lukeman
Mervyn King 6-5 James Wilson
Christian Kist 6-1 Joe Cullen
Keane Barry 6-4 John Henderson
Boris Krcmar 6-3 Kim Huybrechts
Niels Zonneveld 6-3 Chris Landman
Martin Schindler 6-3 Maik Kuivenhoven
Daniel Klose 6-3 Ron Meulenkamp
Gian van Veen 6-3 Simon Whitlock
Josh Payne 6-2 Owen Bates
Damon Heta 6-2 Andy Boulton
Richard Veenstra 6-2 George Killington
Brendan Dolan 6-2 Danny van Trijp
Mario Vandenbogaerde 6-2 Callum Goffin
Lee Evans 6-3 Ross Smith
Adam Warner 6-2 Ted Evetts
Robert Owen 6-3 Steve Beaton
Luke Woodhouse 6-5 Steve Lennon
Rob Cross 6-4 Cam Crabtree
John O’Shea 6-1 Mickey Mansell
James Wade 6-5 Mensur Suljovic
Ian White 6-3 Karel Sedlacek
Krzysztof Ratajski 6-2 Devon Petersen
Ronny Huybrechts 6-5 Damian Mol
Owen Roelofs 6-4 Gary Anderson
Arron Monk 6-5 Scott Waites
Shaun Wilkinson 6-4 Dave Chisnall
Jermaine Wattimena 6-5 Ryan Joyce
Gabriel Clemens 6-0 Nick Fullwell
Vincent van der Voort 6-2 Nick Kenny
Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-0 Robbie Knops
Cameron Menzies 6-2 William O’Connor
Graham Hall 6-5 Daryl Gurney
Ross Montgomery 6-4 Graham Usher
Josh Rock 6-1 Geert Nentjes
Ritchie Edhouse 6-5 Kevin Doets
Callan Rydz 6-3 Pascal Rupprecht
Berry van Peer 6-4 Kevin Burness
Jonny Clayton 6-4 Jose Justicia
Jimmy Hendriks 6-4 Danny Jansen
Bradley Brooks 6-5 Ryan Meikle
Ricardo Pietreczko 6-3 Rusty-Jake Rodriguez
Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-1 Jacques Labre
Matt Campbell 6-2 Scott Williams
Chris Dobey 6-3 Krzysztof Kciuk
Connor Scutt 6-3 Jules van Dongen
Andrew Gilding 6-0 Adam Gawlas
Alan Soutar 6-4 Jeff Smith
Jeffrey De Zwaan 6-3 Madars Razma
Martijn Kleermaker 6-2 Jamie Clark
Thibault Tricole 6-5 Danny Noppert
Luc Peters 6-5 Dylan Slevin
Jeffrey Sparidaans 6-4 Rowby-John Rodriguez
Darius Labanauskas 6-5 Darren Webster
Ricky Evans 6-3 Ryan Searle
Jim Williams 6-4 Tony Martinez
Second Round
Jurjen van der Velde 6-2 Raymond van Barneveld
Luke Humphries 6-3 Darryl Pilgrim
Stephen Bunting 6-3 Adam Smith-Neale
Jose De Sousa 6-3 Radek Szaganski
Brian Raman 6-2 Mervyn King
Christian Kist 6-4 Keane Barry
Boris Krcmar 6-3 Niels Zonneveld
Martin Schindler 6-4 Daniel Klose
Gian van Veen 6-4 Josh Payne
Damon Heta 6-4 Richard Veenstra
Brendan Dolan 6-5 Mario Vandenbogaerde
Lee Evans 6-2 Adam Warner
Luke Woodhouse 6-2 Robert Owen
John O’Shea 6-4 Rob Cross
Ian White 6-5 James Wade
Ronny Huybrechts 6-5 Krzysztof Ratajski
Owen Roelofs 6-5 Arron Monk
Jermaine Wattimena 6-2 Shaun Wilkinson
Gabriel Clemens 6-2 Vincent van der Voort
Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-4 Cameron Menzies
Graham Hall 6-4 Ross Montgomery
Josh Rock 6-3 Ritchie Edhouse
Berry van Peer 6-3 Callan Rydz
Jonny Clayton 6-3 Jimmy Hendriks
Bradley Brooks 6-5 Ricardo Pietreczko
Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-5 Matt Campbell
Chris Dobey 6-1 Connor Scutt
Andrew Gilding 6-4 Alan Soutar
Martijn Kleermaker 6-4 Jeffrey De Zwaan
Thibault Tricole 6-0 Luc Peters
Jeffrey Sparidaans 6-4 Darius Labanauskas
Jim Williams 6-5 Ricky Evans
Losers: £750
Last 32
Luke Humphries 6-2 Jurjen van der Velde
Jose De Sousa 6-3 Stephen Bunting
Christian Kist 6-5 Brian Raman
Martin Schindler 6-5 Boris Krcmar – *Schindler hits a nine-darter*
Damon Heta 6-5 Gian van Veen
Lee Evans 6-2 Brendan Dolan
Luke Woodhouse 6-4 John O’Shea
Ian White 6-2 Ronny Huybrechts
Jermaine Wattimena 6-4 Owen Roelofs
Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-4 Gabriel Clemens
Josh Rock 6-0 Graham Hall
Jonny Clayton 6-4 Berry van Peer
Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-5 Bradley Brooks
Andrew Gilding 6-1 Chris Dobey
Martijn Kleermaker 6-5 Thibault Tricole
Jeffrey Sparidaans 6-5 Jim Williams
Losers: £1,250
Last 16
Jose De Sousa 6-5 Luke Humphries
Martin Schindler 6-2 Christian Kist
Damon Heta 6-1 Lee Evans
Ian White 6-5 Luke Woodhouse
Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-5 Jermaine Wattimena
Josh Rock 6-4 Jonny Clayton – *Rock hits a nine-darter*
Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-2 Andrew Gilding
Martijn Kleermaker 6-3 Jeffrey Sparidaans
Losers: £2,000
Quarter-Finals
Jose De Sousa 6-5 Martin Schindler
Ian White 6-4 Damon Heta
Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-4 Josh Rock
Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-2 Martijn Kleermaker
Losers: £3,000
Semi-Finals
Jose De Sousa 7-2 Ian White
Dirk van Duijvenbode 7-6 Dimitri Van den Bergh
Losers: £4,000
Final
Dirk van Duijvenbode 8-3 Jose De Sousa
Winner: £12,000
Runner-up: £8,000
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