Durrant doubles PDC title tally at Players Championship 15

Glen Durrant secured his second PDC ranking title at Players Championship 15 in Barnsley on Saturday, thrashing Darius Labanauskas 8-1 in the final.

Durrant, who opened his PDC account with victory at Players Championship Four in February, claimed another £10,000 title on a memorable day at the Barnsley Metrodome.

 

The reigning and three-time Lakeside Champion followed up a sensational 7-2 scalp of Michael van Gerwen in the Semi-Finals with a demolition of his former BDO rival in a one-sided final.

“It feels absolutely fantastic, I can’t put into words how happy I am right now,” said Durrant, who has all but sealed a debut in July’s Betfred World Matchplay.

“Last weekend on the Euro Tour was really difficult to me but this weekend has been perfect. I had a fabulous week in practice and I knew I was playing well.

“I was determined to enjoy today but to win another title is pretty special. I joined the PDC for moments like this.

“Before I played Michael [Van Gerwen] I asked if I could have his shirt which I immediately regretted as it showed weakness, but he didn’t play his best game and I was able to capitalise.

“I’ve totally exceeded the initial targets I set myself at the start of the year and soon my goals will be changing but I’m not putting too much pressure on myself at the moment.”

Durrant began his charge with back-to-back 6-0 whitewashes of Matthew Edgar and Simon Stevenson, before overcoming Kyle Anderson and Danny Noppert 6-4.

The 48-year-old then defeated world finalist Michael Smith 6-4 in the Quarter-Finals, before inflicting MVG’s heaviest defeat of the season so far in the Last Four.

A one-sided final saw Durrant punish Labanauskas’ missed darts at double as he raced into a 3-0 lead, before Labanauskas chalked his first leg on the board to make it 3-1.

However, that was as good as it got for Labanauskas, who made history in becoming the first Lithuanian player to reach a PDC ranking final, as Durrant ruthlessly reeled off five consecutive legs to run out victorious in his third PDC final since joining the circuit.

Labanauskas, who will represent Lithuania in next month’s BetVictor World Cup of Darts, claimed victories over Gabriel Clemens, Bradley Brooks, Cristo Reyes and Steve Beaton.

His Last Eight meeting with Ryan Meikle saw him prevail 6-2, before a 99.9 average saw Labanauskas get the better of Ron Meulenkamp 7-4 to reach the final.

A bittersweet day for Dave Chisnall saw him hit a nine-dart finish in his Second Round clash with Cristo Reyes, but only for the Spanish number one to claim a last-leg victory.

It was also a positive day for four-time Development Tour title winner Meikle, who reached his first senior PDC quarter-final, and for Chris Dobey, who made it through to his second quarter-final of 2019.

Dutch left-hander Meulenkamp also made it through to his third PDC ranking Semi-Final, but once again failed to make it past the penultimate hurdle.

Saturday May 18

First Round

Van Gerwen, Michael 6-0 Prins, Dave

Huybrechts, Kim 6-3 Boulton, Andy

Alcinas, Toni 6-4 O’Connor, William

Bates, Barrie 6-2 Clark, Matt

Aspinall, Nathan 6-1 Kanik, Tytus

Hudson, Peter 6-5 Owen, Robert

De Zwaan, Jeffrey 6-1 Norris, Alan

Van Duijvenbode, Dirk 6-5 Lerchbacher, Zoran

Gray, Adrian 6-5 Cullen, Joe

Edhouse, Ritchie 6-4 Whitehead, Conan

Dobey, Chris 6-1 Killington, George

Bunse, Christian 6-2 Askew, Jason

Clayton, Jonny 6-0 Kuivenhoven, Maik

Van der Meer, Vincent 6-3 Newell, Tony

Van Baelen, Davy 6-5 Wilson, James

Jones, Wayne 6-0 Dootson, Eddie

Pipe, Justin 6-5 Lewis, Adrian

Meeuwisse, Yordi 6-5 Shepherd, Kirk

De Sousa, Jose 6-2 Smith, Ross

McGeeney, Mark 6-2 Derry, Nathan

Smith, Michael 6-4 Atkins (Leeds), Martin

Burness, Kevin 6-4 Harrington, Ryan

Hopp, Max 6-5 Hunt, Adam

Kantele, Marko 6-4 Worsley, Jonathan

Wade, James 6-5 Gilding, Andrew

Anderson, Kyle 6-3 Schindler, Martin

Durrant, Glen 6-0 Edgar, Matthew

Stevenson, Simon 6-1 Robinson, Reece

Whitlock, Simon 6-2 North, Richard

Tabern, Alan 6-1 Bain, Jamie

Noppert, Danny 6-0 Lennon, Steve

Monk, Arron 6-4 Dolan, Brendan

White, Ian 6-4 Razma, Madars

Van den Bergh, Dimitri 6-4 Justicia, Jose

Payne, Josh 6-5 Murschell, Dawson

Searle, Ryan 6-3 Kamphuis, Vincent

Wattimena, Jermaine 6-2 Carroll, Shaun

Robbe, Mario 6-3 Dudbridge, Mark

Ratajski, Krzysztof 6-2 Burton, Stephen

Wilkinson, Carl 6-4 Zonneveld, Niels

Evans, Ricky 6-1 Rodriguez, Rowby-John

Joyce, Ryan 6-3 Eastwood, Gary

Evetts, Ted 6-4 Brown, Keegan

Meulenkamp, Ron 6-0 Klaasen, Jelle

Webster, Darren 6-3 Cadby, Corey

Petersen, Devon 6-4 Mansell, Mickey

West, Steve 6-3 Van Duivenbode, Mike

Pallett, David 6-3 Taylor, Scott

Chisnall, Dave 6-2 Kist, Christian

Reyes, Cristo 6-4 Carlin, Gavin

Labanauskas, Darius 6-5 Clemens , Gabriel

Brooks, Bradley 6-4 Thornton, Robert

Beaton, Steve 6-5 Baker, Scott

Nentjes, Geert 6-4 Huybrechts, Ronny

Henderson, John 6-2 Murnan, Joe

Dekker, Jan 6-5 Richardson, James

Wright, Peter 6-4 Webster, Mark

Meikle, Ryan 6-3 Todd, Mick

Van der Voort, Vincent 6-1 Temple, Terry

Lewis, Jamie 6-4 Wilson, Mark

Rafferty, Nathan 6-3 Bunting, Stephen

Michael, John 6-3 Van de Pas, Benito

Ward, Harry 6-4 King, Mervyn

Van Barneveld, Raymond 6-5 Hughes, Jamie

Second Round

Van Gerwen, Michael 6-3 Huybrechts, Kim

Alcinas, Toni 6-4 Bates, Barrie

Hudson, Peter 6-0 Aspinall, Nathan

De Zwaan, Jeffrey 6-4 Van Duijvenbode, Dirk

Edhouse, Ritchie 6-2 Gray, Adrian

Dobey, Chris 6-3 Bunse, Christian

Van der Meer, Vincent 6-4 Clayton, Jonny

Van Baelen, Davy 6-5 Jones, Wayne

Pipe, Justin 6-4 Meeuwisse, Yordi

De Sousa, Jose 6-3 McGeeney, Mark

Smith, Michael 6-1 Burness, Kevin

Hopp, Max 6-4 Kantele, Marko

Anderson, Kyle 6-2 Wade, James

Durrant, Glen 6-0 Stevenson, Simon

Whitlock, Simon 6-3 Tabern, Alan

Noppert, Danny 6-2 Monk, Arron

White, Ian 6-1 Van den Bergh, Dimitri

Searle, Ryan 6-3 Payne, Josh

Wattimena, Jermaine 6-3 Robbe, Mario

Ratajski, Krzysztof 6-1 Wilkinson, Carl

Evans, Ricky 6-5 Joyce, Ryan

Meulenkamp, Ron 6-3 Evetts, Ted

Petersen, Devon 6-0 Webster, Darren

Pallett, David 6-5 West, Steve

Reyes, Cristo 6-5 Chisnall, Dave

Labanauskas, Darius 6-3 Brooks, Bradley

Beaton, Steve 6-2 Nentjes, Geert

Henderson, John 6-1 Dekker, Jan

Meikle, Ryan 6-4 Wright, Peter

Lewis, Jamie 6-3 Van der Voort, Vincent

Rafferty, Nathan 6-3 Michael, John

Van Barneveld, Raymond 6-4 Ward, Harry

Losers: £500

Last 32

Van Gerwen, Michael 6-0 Alcinas, Toni

Hudson, Peter 6-5 De Zwaan, Jeffrey

Dobey, Chris 6-4 Edhouse, Ritchie

Van der Meer, Vincent 6-2 Van Baelen, Davy

Pipe, Justin 6-4 De Sousa, Jose

Smith, Michael 6-5 Hopp, Max

Durrant, Glen 6-4 Anderson, Kyle

Noppert, Danny 6-3 Whitlock, Simon

White, Ian 6-4 Searle, Ryan

Ratajski, Krzysztof 6-1 Wattimena, Jermaine

Meulenkamp, Ron 6-3 Evans, Ricky

Pallett, David 6-5 Petersen, Devon

Labanauskas, Darius 6-4 Reyes, Cristo

Beaton, Steve 6-3 Henderson, John

Meikle, Ryan 6-1 Lewis, Jamie

Rafferty, Nathan 6-3 Van Barneveld, Raymond

Losers: £1,000

Last 16

Michael van Gerwen 6-3 Peter Hudson

Chris Dobey 6-3 Vincent van der Meer

Michael Smith 6-5 Justin Pipe

Glen Durrant 6-4 Danny Noppert

Ian White 6-3 Krzysztof Ratajski

Ron Meulenkamp 6-3 David Pallett

Darius Labanauskas 6-5 Steve Beaton

Ryan Meikle 6-3 Nathan Rafferty

Losers: £1,500

Quarter-Finals

Michael van Gerwen 6-5 Chris Dobey

Glen Durrant 6-4 Michael Smith

Ron Meulenkamp 6-5 Ian White

Darius Labanauskas 6-2 Ryan Meikle

Losers: £2,250

Semi-Finals

Glen Durrant 7-2 Michael van Gerwen

Darius Labanauskas 7-4 Ron Meulenkamp

Losers: £3,000

Final

Glen Durrant 8-1 Darius Labanauskas

Winner: £10,000

Runner-up: £6,000