Gerwyn Price seals back-to-back Players Championship titles in Hildesheim
Gerwyn Price secured successive Players Championship titles in Hildesheim with an 8-1 rout of Gian van Veen in the Event 18 final on Sunday.
The Welshman defeated Josh Rock to claim the Players Championship 17 crown on Saturday and produced another series of spell-binding displays to add a second £12,000 title at Halle 39.
Price came through the 128-player field to claim his fifth title of the year, saving his best performances for the latter stages.
Van Veen missed darts at double for 130 and 120 finishes in the early exchanges and was punished by a ruthless Price – who converted two-dart 84 and 88 checkouts to establish an early lead.
The Dutchman then capitalised on errors from Price to open his account in leg four, although Price responded by winning the next five legs without reply to complete a comprehensive victory.
“Gian is a great player. He missed a couple of chances, and I didn’t let him off in that game,” admitted Price, the first player to win back-to-back ProTour titles in 2023.
“My game wasn’t the best apart from a couple of games at the end. I was scoring well all day, missing loads of doubles but getting away with it.
“I would rather play really well, even if I lose sometimes. Scraping games doesn’t give you that much confidence, but winning is what matters.
“If I’m winning tournaments when I’m playing my C-game, when my A-game comes out, hopefully that’s good enough as well, because some people turn me over when I’m playing my best!
“When there are ranking points at stake, it means a little bit more, and luck was on my side this weekend.”
Price displayed his battling qualities in early wins over Jimmy Hendriks and Pascal Rupprecht, before recovering from 5-4 down to deny Ireland’s Keane Barry with a 99 average.
The 2021 World Champion then breezed through to the final in emphatic fashion, dropping just three legs in his next three matches.
After easing past an out of sorts James Wade in a scrappy Last 16 tie, Price whitewashed a struggling Rob Cross in the quarter-finals, and continued his charge with a 7-2 demolition of Stephen Bunting in the Last Four.
Price won ten consecutive legs during this three-game spell; averaging almost 102 to dispatch Bunting and set up a showdown against World Youth finalist Van Veen.
The emerging Dutchman continued his rise to book a place in his second PDC ranking final, producing some scintillating performances in the closing stages of the afternoon.
The 21-year-old defied a ton-plus average from Saturday’s semi-finalist Ritchie Edhouse in a thrilling first round tie, which he followed with wins over Rowby-John Rodriguez and Gabriel Clemens.
Van Veen continued his charge to see off Ian White in the last 16, before averaging 106 and 105 to dump out Jeffrey de Zwaan and Joe Cullen in the quarter-finals and semi-finals respectively.
Sixth seed Cullen dumped out Australian icon Simon Whitlock and UK Open champion Andrew Gilding in his run to the semi-finals, which also featured a whitewash win against Darryl Pilgrim.
Meanwhile, Bunting won through deciding-leg ties against Robert Grundy and Daryl Gurney in reaching the last four, which he backed up with wins against Ryan Meikle and Richard Veenstra.
Veenstra was joined in the last eight by his compatriot De Zwaan, with Challenge Tour star Pilgrim and fifth seed Cross making up the quarter-final line-up in Hildesheim.
Players Championship 18 Results
Sunday August 27
First Round
Owen Bates 6-5 Matt Campbell
Martin Lukeman 6-4 Damian Mol
Ryan Meikle 6-3 Dave Chisnall
Arron Monk 6-4 Krzysztof Kciuk
Daryl Gurney 6-2 Dylan Slevin
Radek Szaganski 6-5 Boris Krcmar
Stephen Bunting 6-1 Mario Vandenbogaerde
Robert Grundy 6-1 Robert Owen
Luke Woodhouse 6-2 Darren Webster
Lee Evans 6-2 Stefan Bellmont
Jules van Dongen 6-3 Martin Schindler
Tony Martinez 6-4 Thibault Tricole
Kim Huybrechts 6-1 John O’Shea
Jamie Hughes 6-0 Niels Zonneveld
Richard Veenstra 6-5 Ross Smith
Karel Sedlacek 6-4 Jarred Cole
Keane Barry 6-3 Adam Warner
Andy Boulton 6-4 Owen Roelofs
Gerwyn Price 6-2 Jimmy Hendriks
Pascal Rupprecht 6-5 Shaun Wilkinson
Chris Dobey 6-0 Lukas Wenig
Darius Labanauskas 6-1 Martijn Dragt
James Wade 6-3 Jose Justicia
Ron Meulenkamp 6-1 Callum Goffin
Ryan Joyce 6-0 Luc Peters
Keegan Brown 6-0 Jacques Labre
Rob Cross 6-2 Bradley Brooks
Cameron Menzies 6-4 Josh Payne
Ricky Evans 6-4 Brendan Dolan
Maik Kuivenhoven 6-2 Graham Usher
Vincent van der Voort 6-2 Krzysztof Ratajski
Nick Kenny 6-5 Ross Montgomery
Ian White 6-2 Adam Smith-Neale
Steve Lennon 6-5 Scott Williams
Damon Heta 6-2 Alexander Merkx
Wesley Plaisier 6-0 Joe Murnan
Rowby-John Rodriguez 6-5 Raymond van Barneveld
Gian van Veen 6-4 Ritchie Edhouse
Gabriel Clemens 6-2 Dragutin Horvat
Graham Hall 6-5 Arjan Konterman
Ricardo Pietreczko 6-2 Ted Evetts
Rusty-Jake Rodriguez 6-4 Geert Nentjes
Danny Jansen 6-1 Peter Wright
George Killington 6 -2 Vladimir Andersen
William O’Connor 6-5 Danny van Trijp
Jeffrey De Zwaan 6-5 Adam Gawlas
Alan Soutar 6-4 Jose De Sousa
Richie Burnett 6-4 Kevin Burness
Madars Razma 6-4 Mensur Suljovic
Stephen Burton 6-1 Martijn Kleermaker
Darryl Pilgrim 6-3 Josh Rock
James Wilson 6-5 Kevin Doets
Jurjen van der Velde 6-4 Mike De Decker
Cam Crabtree 6-4 Jermaine Wattimena
Mickey Mansell 6-4 Dimitri Van den Bergh
Vitezslav Sedlak 6-1 Nathan Rafferty
Simon Whitlock 6-3 Jeffrey Sparidaans
Connor Scutt 6-2 Daniel Klose
Joe Cullen 6-3 Scott Waites
Mervyn King 6-1 Florian Hempel
Jeff Smith 6-4 Steve Beaton
Jelle Klaasen 6-2 Chris Landman
Andrew Gilding 6-5 Brian Raman
Ronny Huybrechts 6-2 Robbie Knops
Second Round
Owen Bates 6-5 Martin Lukeman
Ryan Meikle w/o Arron Monk
Daryl Gurney 6-5 Radek Szaganski
Stephen Bunting 6-5 Robert Grundy
Luke Woodhouse 6-4 Lee Evans
Tony Martinez 6-4 Jules van Dongen
Kim Huybrechts 6-4 Jamie Hughes
Richard Veenstra 6-5 Karel Sedlacek
Keane Barry 6-2 Andy Boulton
Gerwyn Price 6-4 Pascal Rupprecht
Chris Dobey 6-4 Darius Labanauskas
James Wade 6-3 Ron Meulenkamp
Ryan Joyce 6-0 Keegan Brown
Rob Cross 6-4 Cameron Menzies
Ricky Evans 6-5 Maik Kuivenhoven
Nick Kenny 6-3 Vincent van der Voort
Ian White 6-4 Steve Lennon
Wesley Plaisier 6-4 Damon Heta
Gian van Veen 6-1 Rowby-John Rodriguez
Gabriel Clemens 6-0 Graham Hall
Rusty-Jake Rodriguez 6-5 Ricardo Pietreczko
George Killington 6-1 Danny Jansen
Jeffrey De Zwaan 6-4 William O’Connor
Richie Burnett 6-4 Alan Soutar
Madars Razma 6-4 Stephen Burton
Darryl Pilgrim 6-5 James Wilson
Cam Crabtree 6-3 Jurjen van der Velde
Vitezslav Sedlak 6-5 Mickey Mansell
Simon Whitlock 6-3 Connor Scutt
Joe Cullen 6-3 Mervyn King
Jeff Smith 6-2 Jelle Klaasen
Andrew Gilding 6-5 Ronny Huybrechts
Losers: £750
Last 32
Ryan Meikle 6-4 Owen Bates
Stephen Bunting 6-5 Daryl Gurney
Tony Martinez 6-5 Luke Woodhouse
Richard Veenstra 6-5 Kim Huybrechts
Gerwyn Price 6-5 Keane Barry
James Wade 6-2 Chris Dobey
Rob Cross 6-2 Ryan Joyce
Ricky Evans 6-5 Nick Kenny
Ian White 6-5 Wesley Plaisier
Gian van Veen 6-4 Gabriel Clemens
Rusty-Jake Rodriguez 6-2 George Killington
Jeffrey De Zwaan 6-3 Richie Burnett
Darryl Pilgrim 6-1 Madars Razma
Cam Crabtree 6-1 Vitezslav Sedlak
Joe Cullen 6-4 Simon Whitlock
Andrew Gilding 6-3 Jeff Smith
Losers: £1,250
Last 16
Stephen Bunting 6-4 Ryan Meikle
Richard Veenstra 6-5 Tony Martinez
Gerwyn Price 6-1 James Wade
Rob Cross 6-1 Ricky Evans
Gian van Veen 6-2 Ian White
Jeffrey De Zwaan 6-1 Rusty-Jake Rodriguez
Darryl Pilgrim 6-5 Cam Crabtree
Joe Cullen 6-4 Andrew Gilding
Losers: £2,000
Quarter-Finals
Stephen Bunting 6-3 Richard Veenstra
Gerwyn Price 6-0 Rob Cross
Gian van Veen 6-2 Jeffrey De Zwaan
Joe Cullen 6-0 Darryl Pilgrim
Losers: £3,000
Semi-Finals
Gerwyn Price 7-2 Stephen Bunting
Gian van Veen 7-1 Joe Cullen
Losers: £4,000
Final
Gerwyn Price 8-1 Gian van Veen
Winner: £12,000
Runner-up: £8,000
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