Damon Heta secures first ranking title of 2025 at Players Championship 13

Damon Heta sealed his first PDC ranking title of 2025 at Players Championship 13 in Rosmalen with an 8-6 victory over Nathan Aspinall in the final on Monday.

Heta held off a typically tenacious display from Aspinall to secure his eighth ProTour title and climb to world number seven in the process.

The Australian number one had failed to progress beyond the quarter-final stage of a ranking event this season prior to his visit to the Autotron – where he returned to the winner’s circle in fine style.

“I didn’t know when my next win was coming, so I’m really stoked to win today,” said Heta.

“For some reason in darts you sometimes get wins when you’re not playing great and don’t get what you deserve when you are playing well.

“I’ve been working on a few things to do with my darts set-up, I’m looking for those one per cents to take my game to the next level.

“I’m a hard worker, I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing and hopefully turn up at the big events and get my rewards.”

Heta began the day with a narrow 6-5 win over Adam Hunt, before seeing off Berry van Peer 6-3 and Andy Baetens 6-4 to reach the Last 16 – where he overcame in-form Jermaine Wattimena 6-4 to reach a fourth quarter-final of the season.

The 37-year-old comfortably overcame Karel Sedlacek 6-2 before thrashing Andrew Gilding 7-2 in the semi-finals with a 101.2 average.

Heta began the final strongly by racing into a 4-1 lead with a brace of 13-darters along the way, and though Aspinall stopped the rot in leg six, the Aussie landed another 13-darter to make it 5-2.

The duo traded legs again before Aspinall reeled off three in a row to get back on level terms at six apiece, but a scrappy 20-dart leg from Heta was followed by a 15-darter to clinch the crown.

Aspinall, winner of Premier League Night Ten in Manchester last Thursday, overcame Jonny Clayton, Dirk van Duijvenbode and Jonny Clayton on his way to a first Players Championship final since August 2022.

The day also saw Wessel Nijman register a nine-darter in his 6-0 whitewash of Robert Owen in Round One.

Meanwhile, Michael van Gerwen slipped to a fourth consecutive first round exit on the ProTour as he lost out to Mario Vandenbogaerde, while Gerwyn Price a shock second round defeat at the hands of Max Hopp.

The likes of Peter Wright, James Wade and Raymond van Barneveld also bowed out in the opening round.

Players Championship 13 Results

Monday April 14

First Round
Dave Chisnall 6-3 Greg Ritchie
Chris Landman 6-4 Alexander Merkx
Martin Lukeman 6-1 Oskar Lukasiak
Mensur Suljovic 6-3 Jim Williams
Leon Weber 6-5 Daryl Gurney
Joshua Richardson 6-2 George Killington
Ted Evetts 6-4 Peter Wright
Kim Huybrechts 6-1 Keane Barry
Chris Dobey 6-3 Scott Campbell
Dominik Gruellich 6-5 Tom Bissell
Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-5 Patrick Geeraets
Mickey Mansell 6-2 Rhys Griffin
Cameron Menzies 6-3 Radek Szaganski
Sebastian Bialecki 6-5 James Hurrell
Nathan Aspinall 6-5 Adam Lipscombe
Andy Boulton 6-5 Steve Lennon
Martin Schindler 6-4 Richard Veenstra
Ricky Evans 6-3 Dragutin Horvat
Bradley Brooks 6-4 Krzysztof Ratajski
Cam Crabtree 6-3 Mervyn King
Mike De Decker 6-3 Stefan Bellmont
Stefaan Henderyck 6-4 Andreas Harrysson
Michael Smith 6-3 Michele Turetta
Matt Campbell 6-4 Brendan Dolan
Mario Vandenbogaerde 6-4 Michael van Gerwen
William O’Connor 6-2 Maik Kuivenhoven
Madars Razma 6-2 Maximilian Czerwinski
Scott Williams 6-3 Christian Kist
Jonny Clayton 6-1 Kevin Burness
Jitse Van der Wal 6-5 Tavis Dudeney
Marvin van Velzen 6-5 Raymond van Barneveld
Nick Kenny 6-4 Thomas Lovely
Josh Rock 6-3 Cor Dekker
Connor Scutt 6-4 Haupai Puha
Kevin Doets 6-4 Nathan Rafferty
Dylan Slevin 6-0 Adam Warner
Danny Noppert 6-5 Dennie Olde Kalter
Alan Soutar 6-3 Darryl Pilgrim
Karel Sedlacek 6-3 James Wade
Jose De Sousa (BYE) v Dimitri Van den Bergh
Gabriel Clemens 6-5 Ryan Searle
Darius Labanauskas 6-4 Carl Sneyd
Jermaine Wattimena 6-3 Owen Bates
Jim Long 6-5 Tytus Kanik
Damon Heta 6-5 Adam Hunt
Berry van Peer 6-4 Justin Hood
Luke Woodhouse 6-5 Tom Sykes
Andy Baetens 6-5 Dom Taylor
Ross Smith 6-0 Stephen Burton
Niko Springer 6-2 Viktor Tingstrom
Ricardo Pietreczko 6-3 Lukas Wenig
Darren Beveridge 6-3 Danny Lauby
Wessel Nijman 6-0 Rob Owen – *Nijman hits a nine-darter*
Wesley Plaisier 6-4 Kai Gotthardt
Ritchie Edhouse 6-4 Ryan Meikle
Benjamin Reus 6-1 Thibault Tricole
Gian van Veen 6-4 Ian White
Jelle Klaasen 6-5 Matthew Dennant
Niels Zonneveld 6-5 Robert Grundy
Callan Rydz 6-3 Pero Ljubic
Gerwyn Price 6-2 Martijn Dragt
Max Hopp 6-5 Jeffrey De Graaf
Andrew Gilding 6-5 Florian Hempel
Graham Usher 6-3 Rusty-Jake Rodriguez

Second Round
Dave Chisnall 6-5 Chris Landman
Martin Lukeman 6-3 Mensur Suljovic
Leon Weber 6-0 Joshua Richardson
Ted Evetts 6-5 Kim Huybrechts
Dominik Gruellich 6-3 Chris Dobey
Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-3 Mickey Mansell
Cameron Menzies 6-0 Sebastian Bialecki
Nathan Aspinall 6-2 Andy Boulton
Martin Schindler 6-4 Ricky Evans
Bradley Brooks 6-3 Cam Crabtree
Mike De Decker 6-3 Stefaan Henderyck
Michael Smith 6-3 Matt Campbell
Mario Vandenbogaerde 6-5 William O’Connor
Madars Razma 6-4 Scott Williams
Jonny Clayton 6-1 Jitse Van der Wal
Nick Kenny 6-3 Marvin van Velzen
Josh Rock 6-4 Connor Scutt
Kevin Doets 6-3 Dylan Slevin
Alan Soutar 6-3 Danny Noppert
Karel Sedlacek 6-1 Jose De Sousa
Darius Labanauskas 6-3 Gabriel Clemens
Jermaine Wattimena 6-1 Jim Long
Damon Heta 6-3 Berry van Peer
Andy Baetens 6-2 Luke Woodhouse
Niko Springer 6-4 Ross Smith
Ricardo Pietreczko 6-4 Darren Beveridge
Wessel Nijman 6-3 Wesley Plaisier
Benjamin Reus 6-5 Ritchie Edhouse
Gian van Veen 6-2 Jelle Klaasen
Niels Zonneveld 6-5 Callan Rydz
Max Hopp 6-4 Gerwyn Price
Andrew Gilding 6-0 Graham Usher

Last 32
Martin Lukeman 6-2 Dave Chisnall
Leon Weber 6-4 Ted Evetts
Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-5 Dominik Gruellich
Nathan Aspinall 6-3 Cameron Menzies
Martin Schindler 6-4 Bradley Brooks
Mike De Decker 6-4 Michael Smith
Mario Vandenbogaerde 6-3 Madars Razma
Jonny Clayton 6-2 Nick Kenny
Josh Rock 6-2 Kevin Doets
Karel Sedlacek 6-4 Alan Soutar
Jermaine Wattimena 6-3 Darius Labanauskas
Damon Heta 6-4 Andy Baetens
Ricardo Pietreczko 6-4 Niko Springer
Wessel Nijman 6-1 Benjamin Reus
Gian van Veen 6-3 Niels Zonneveld
Andrew Gilding 6-5 Max Hopp

Last 16
Martin Lukeman 6-3 Leon Weber
Nathan Aspinall 6-4 Dirk van Duijvenbode
Martin Schindler 6-4 Mike De Decker
Jonny Clayton 6-5 Mario Vandenbogaerde
Karel Sedlacek 6-5 Josh Rock
Damon Heta 6-4 Jermaine Wattimena
Wessel Nijman 6-5 Ricardo Pietreczko
Andrew Gilding 6-5 Gian van Veen

Quarter-Finals
Nathan Aspinall 6-2 Martin Lukeman
Jonny Clayton 6-5 Martin Schindler
Damon Heta 6-2 Karel Sedlacek
Andrew Gilding 6-4 Wessel Nijman

Semi-Finals
Nathan Aspinall 7-4 Jonny Clayton
Damon Heta 7-2 Andrew Gilding

Final
Damon Heta 8-6 Nathan Aspinall