Record-breaking Ross Smith romps to Players Championship 16 title
Ross Smith landed two nine-darters and registered an astonishing run of unanswered legs on his way to claiming the Players Championship 16 title in Hildesheim on Tuesday.
The former European Champion shattered a number of records in securing his sixth PDC ranking title, reeling off 24 consecutive legs on a memorable day at Halle 39.
Smith also became just the third player – along with Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen – to land multiple nine-darters in the same Players Championship event.
The 36-year-old achieved perfection in his opening round tie against Dylan Slevin, before repeating those heroics in his Last 16 clash against Chris Landman.
Landman levelled the contest at 3-3, sparking an astonishing run from Smith, who won the next three legs before emphatically whitewashing Danny Noppert, Luke Woodhouse and Brendan Dolan to storm to glory.
“I don’t actually think I played that well today, but I’m so happy with the win,” admitted Smith, who now moves up three places to world number 14.
“I’ve got the little plaques at home with the scoresheets from my Players Championship wins. They’re my little trophies, and they mean a lot to me.
“I’m going to add another one to the wall today, and it’s another incentive when I’m at home practising, because I want to win all the time; who doesn’t?
“I know I can be one of the best in the world. Consistency is a big thing, but I know I can win tournaments on a regular basis.
“If you’ve won a major title you can win anything. I honestly believe I’m going to win more, but I need to keep working hard.”
Following his opening round win over Slevin, Smith averaged 105 to dispatch another Irishman in Steve Lennon, before accounting for Croatia’s Pero Ljubic and Landman.
Smith then recorded a hat-trick of whitewash wins against Noppert, Woodhouse and Dolan, averaging 104.5 to demolish Dolan 8-0, featuring successive legs of 14, 12, 13, 14, 12 and 14 darts in a blistering six-leg burst.
Dolan had not progressed beyond the Last 32 of a ranking event since March, but the Northern Irish veteran impressed at Halle 39 to pocket the £10,000 runner-up prize.
After defying a 104 average from fourth seed Damon Heta in round one, Dolan recorded a trio of 6-2 wins pver Leon Weber, Madars Razma and Jim Long to book his place in the quarter-finals.
There, he ran out a 6-3 winner against a resurgent Dirk van Duijvenbode, before firing in a stunning 143 checkout in the penultimate leg of his semi-final success against Gabriel Clemens.
Clemens enjoyed a welcome return to form on home soil, defeating top seed Dave Chisnall and Dutch legend Raymond van Barneveld to progress to his first ranking semi-final since November 2023.
Woodhouse, meanwhile, overcame the likes of Joe Cullen, Martin Schindler and Ricky Evans to reach the semis and strengthen his bid for Betfred World Matchplay qualification.
Evans dumped out Scotland’s World Cup pairing of Peter Wright and Gary Anderson in his run to the quarter-finals, while Dutch trio Van Duijvenbode, Noppert and Kevin Doets completed the quarter-final line-up.
Players Championship 16 Results
Tuesday May 13
First Round
Gabriel Clemens 6-5 Jurjen van der Velde
Jamai van den Herik 6-0 Joshua Richardson
Dave Chisnall 6-2 Dennie Olde Kalter
Connor Scutt 6-4 Matt Campbell
Raymond van Barneveld 6-4 Jelle Klaasen
Scott Williams 6-2 Jitse Van der Wal
Jermaine Wattimena 6-2 Ted Evetts
James Hurrell 6-3 Justin Hood
Kevin Doets 6-5 Andreas Harrysson
Robert Grundy 6-4 George Killington
Rhys Griffin 6-5 Mike De Decker
Tom Bissell 6-4 Rob Owen
Ricardo Pietreczko 6-4 Adam Hunt
Benjamin Reus 6-4 Christian Kist
Dominik Gruellich 6-3 Wessel Nijman
Darryl Pilgrim 6-3 Matthew Dennant
Madars Razma 6-4 Max Hopp
Brett Claydon 6-2 Patrick Geeraets
Brendan Dolan 6-4 Damon Heta
Leon Weber 6-4 Maik Kuivenhoven
Graham Hall 6-3 Ryan Joyce
Jim Long 6-4 Graham Usher
Viktor Tingstrom 6-5 James Wade
Greg Ritchie 6-2 Darren Beveridge
Darius Labanauskas 6-3 William O’Connor
Michele Turetta 6-3 Dragutin Horvat
Gian van Veen 6-2 Andy Baetens
William Borland 6-4 Niko Springer
Niels Zonneveld 6-2 Oskar Lukasiak
Thibault Tricole 6-4 Nick Kenny
Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-3 Bradley Brooks
Stefan Bellmont 6-5 Lukas Wenig
Dom Taylor 6-3 Jose De Sousa
Alexander Merkx 6-2 Kai Gotthardt
Martin Schindler 6-5 Florian Hempel
Maximilian Czerwinski 6-3 Carl Sneyd
Joe Cullen 6-4 Danny van Trijp
Karel Sedlacek 6-4 Jack Tweddell
Luke Woodhouse 6-4 Adam Warner
Cam Crabtree 6-2 Wesley Plaisier
Martin Lukeman 6-2 Marvin van Velzen
Kim Huybrechts 6-4 Kevin Burness
Gary Anderson 6-5 Owen Bates
Adam Paxton 6-4 Stefaan Henderyck
Mensur Suljovic 6-2 Ritchie Edhouse
Tytus Kanik 6-5 Mickey Mansell
Peter Wright 6-5 Martijn Dragt
Ricky Evans 6-1 Sam Spivey
Pero Ljubic 6-2 Callan Rydz
Danny Lauby 6-5 Jeffrey De Graaf
Ross Smith 6-3 Dylan Slevin – *Smith hits a nine-darter*
Steve Lennon 6-3 Sebastian Bialecki
Mario Vandenbogaerde 6-3 Michael Smith
Chris Landman 6-5 Cor Dekker
Ian White 6-5 Andrew Gilding
Andy Boulton 6-4 Jim Williams
Alan Soutar 6-3 Adam Lipscombe
Stephen Burton 6-4 Thomas Lovely
Ryan Searle 6-4 Keane Barry
Ryan Meikle 6-2 Tavis Dudeney
Krzysztof Ratajski 6-1 Richard Veenstra
Nathan Rafferty 6-5 Rusty-Jake Rodriguez
Danny Noppert 6-5 Nathan Girvan
Radek Szaganski w/o v Berry van Peer
Second Round
Gabriel Clemens 6-1 Jamai van den Herik
Dave Chisnall 6-1 Connor Scutt
Raymond van Barneveld 6-4 Scott Williams
Jermaine Wattimena 6-5 James Hurrell
Kevin Doets 6-4 Robert Grundy
Tom Bissell 6-1 Rhys Griffin
Ricardo Pietreczko 6-0 Benjamin Reus
Dominik Gruellich 6-0 Darryl Pilgrim
Madars Razma 6-2 Brett Claydon
Brendan Dolan 6-2 Leon Weber
Jim Long 6-3 Graham Hall
Viktor Tingstrom 6-2 Greg Ritchie
Darius Labanauskas 6-3 Michele Turetta
Gian van Veen 6-5 William Borland
Thibault Tricole 6-5 Niels Zonneveld
Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-3 Stefan Bellmont
Alexander Merkx 6-4 Dom Taylor
Martin Schindler 6-5 Maximilian Czerwinski
Joe Cullen 6-3 Karel Sedlacek
Luke Woodhouse 6-4 Cam Crabtree
Kim Huybrechts 6-2 Martin Lukeman
Gary Anderson 6-0 Adam Paxton
Tytus Kanik 6-3 Mensur Suljovic
Ricky Evans 6-3 Peter Wright
Pero Ljubic 6-2 Danny Lauby
Ross Smith 6-2 Steve Lennon
Chris Landman 6-4 Mario Vandenbogaerde
Ian White 6-1 Andy Boulton
Stephen Burton 6-4 Alan Soutar
Ryan Searle 6-3 Ryan Meikle
Nathan Rafferty 6-5 Krzysztof Ratajski
Danny Noppert 6-3 Radek Szaganski
Last 32
Gabriel Clemens 6-2 Dave Chisnall
Raymond van Barneveld 6-4 Jermaine Wattimena
Kevin Doets 6-2 Tom Bissell
Dominik Gruellich 6-1 Ricardo Pietreczko
Brendan Dolan 6-2 Madars Razma
Jim Long 6-2 Viktor Tingstrom
Darius Labanauskas 6-3 Gian van Veen
Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-0 Thibault Tricole
Martin Schindler 6-1 Alexander Merkx
Luke Woodhouse 6-3 Joe Cullen
Gary Anderson 6-1 Kim Huybrechts
Ricky Evans 6-1 Tytus Kanik
Ross Smith 6-2 Pero Ljubic
Chris Landman 6-4 Ian White
Ryan Searle 6-1 Stephen Burton
Danny Noppert 6-4 Nathan Rafferty
Last 16
Gabriel Clemens 6-2 Raymond van Barneveld
Kevin Doets 6-2 Dominik Gruellich
Brendan Dolan 6-2 Jim Long
Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-0 Darius Labanauskas
Luke Woodhouse 6-4 Martin Schindler
Ricky Evans 6-5 Gary Anderson
Ross Smith 6-3 Chris Landman – *Smith hits a nine-darter*
Danny Noppert 6-5 Ryan Searle
Quarter-Finals
Gabriel Clemens 6-4 Kevin Doets
Brendan Dolan 6-3 Dirk van Duijvenbode
Luke Woodhouse 6-4 Ricky Evans
Ross Smith 6-0 Danny Noppert
Semi-Finals
Brendan Dolan 7-5 Gabriel Clemens
Ross Smith 7-0 Luke Woodhouse
Final
Ross Smith 8-0 Brendan Dolan
