Wade secures fantastic fourth Players Championship title of 2019

James Wade claimed his fourth PDC ranking title of the season at Players Championship 18 in Wigan on Sunday with an 8-5 victory over Jose De Sousa in the final.

Wade, who scooped three ProTour titles in April, added to his tally at the Robin Park Leisure Centre as he denied the Portuguese number one in the decider.

The reigning European Champion produced a series of granite performances en route to the final, where he pressed home his vast experience to clinch the £10,000 top prize.

“Yesterday after I lost, I looked at a picture of my son on my phone and that inspired me to win today,” said Wade.

“The final wasn’t a great game, in fact I wouldn’t say I played very well today which is ironic really.

“But maybe today will boost me into a bit of form and I can do some damage at the World Matchplay.”

Wade began his charge with victories over Dutch duo Benito van de Pas and Yordi Meeuwisse, followed by a narrow 6-5 win over Keegan Brown to reach the Last 16 – where he overcame Austria’s Rowby-John Rodriguez 6-4.

He averaged 101.5 to end the ground-breaking run of rising star Callan Rydz 6-3, before edging out Saturday’s winner Krzysztof Ratajski 7-5 in the Last Four.

De Sousa got off to a flying start in his first PDC final, taking out 160 to hold throw in the opening leg.

The opening four legs all went with throw, before Wade hit his trademark double ten to gain the first break of the match and took out 68 to move two clear.

De Sousa came roaring back with successive legs of his own, including a 12-dart break with an 88 checkout to level the tie.

Despite averaging over 11 points more than Wade after eight legs, De Sousa was left to rue his missed chance to go ahead as Wade found double seven with his last dart in hand for an 86 checkout to break and make it 5-4.

From there, Wade produced a dominant end to the contest, dropping only one more leg to run out a convincing 8-5 winner.

De Sousa, who secured his PDC Tour Card for the first time in January, backed up his run to the Quarter-Finals of the Danish Darts Open on his European Tour debut last weekend.

The Portuguese ace defeated the likes of Nathan Aspinall and Jeffrey de Zwaan on his way to the Semi-Finals, where he ran out a 7-5 victor over Dimitri Van den Bergh, ending the Belgian’s hopes of qualifying for the Betfred World Matchplay in the process.

A number of players were vying for the 16 ProTour Order of Merit places in the Blackpool event ahead of the cut-off next Sunday.

Vincent van der Voort, James Wilson and Kyle Anderson currently occupy the final three spots, but Anderson’s hopes were dealt a blow as he suffered an opening round loss to Ryan Searle.

Searle, Ross Smith and Gabriel Clemens will each now fall short of challenging for the final qualification spots, while Keegan Brown and William O’Connor lead the chasing pack of 11 players who will compete in the Czech Darts Open from June 28-30.

Sunday June 23

First Round

Dekker, Jan 6-4 White, Ian

Humphries, Luke 6-4 Kamphuis, Vincent

Smith, Ross 6-4 Jones, Wayne

Justicia, Jose 6-5 Prins, Dave

Durrant, Glen 6-0 Bain, Jamie

Meulenkamp, Ron 6-1 Eastwood, Gary

Bunting, Stephen 6-2 Norris, Alan

Woodhouse, Luke 6-3 Kantele, Marko

Ratajski, Krzysztof 6-5 Webster, Mark

Killington, George 6-0 Kanik, Tytus

Henderson, John 6-5 Worsley, Jonathan

Alcinas, Toni 6-5 Robbe, Mario

Klaasen, Jelle 6-4 Evans, Ricky

Clemens , Gabriel 6-3 Joyce, Ryan

Noppert, Danny 6-4 Nentjes, Geert

Reyes, Cristo 6-3 Lerchbacher, Zoran

Dolan, Brendan 6-2 Lewis, Adrian

Edhouse, Ritchie 6-5 Michael, John

Van der Voort, Vincent 6-2 Wilson, Mark

Huybrechts, Kim 6-4 Zonneveld, Niels

Beaton, Steve 6-5 Van Baelen, Davy

Thornton, Robert 6-5 Hudson, Peter

Dobey, Chris 6-4 Koltsov, Boris

Rydz, Callan 6-3 Burton, Stephen

Wade, James 6-3 Van de Pas, Benito

Meeuwisse, Yordi 6-5 Cadby, Corey

Brown, Keegan 6-5 Meikle, Ryan

Tabern, Alan 6-2 Menzies, Cameron

Rodriguez, Rowby-John 6-3 Clayton, Jonny

Dudbridge, Mark 6-2 Edgar, Matthew

King, Mervyn 6-2 Owen, Robert

Clark, Matt 6-5 Hunt, Adam

Chisnall, Dave 6-3 Shepherd, Kirk

Hughes, Jamie 6-2 Kist, Christian

Searle, Ryan 6-4 Anderson, Kyle

Boulton, Andy 6-0 Van Duivenbode, Mike

Whitlock, Simon 6-4 North, Richard

Van den Bergh, Dimitri 6-2 Murschell, Dawson

Evetts, Ted 6-3 Wattimena, Jermaine

Van der Meer, Vincent 6-0 Lewis, Jamie

Suljovic, Mensur 6-2 Lennon, Steve

Carlin, Gavin 6-4 Pallett, David

O’Connor, William 6-1 Petersen, Devon

Payne, Josh 6-4 Ward, Harry

Cullen, Joe 6-2 Burness, Kevin

Baker, Scott 6-3 Newell, Tony

Mansell, Mickey 6-5 Hopp, Max

Razma, Madars 6-2 Wilkinson, Carl

Schindler, Martin 6-5 Wright, Peter

Huybrechts, Ronny 6-4 Stevenson, Simon

Murnan, Joe 6-2 Wilson, James

Whitehead, Conan 6-2 Barnard, Michael

Aspinall, Nathan 6-3 Robinson, Reece

De Sousa, Jose 6-3 Monk, Arron

De Zwaan, Jeffrey 6-4 Brooks, Bradley

Bates, Barrie 6-1 Gilding, Andrew

Gurney, Daryl 6-3 Temple, Terry

McGeeney, Mark 6-5 Van Duijvenbode, Dirk

Richardson, James 6-3 West, Steve

Labanauskas, Darius 6-5 Bunse, Christian

Smith, Michael 6-1 Gray, Adrian

Dootson, Eddie 6-5 Harrington, Ryan

Kuivenhoven, Maik 6-5 Webster, Darren

Pipe, Justin 6-2 Carroll, Shaun

Second Round

Humphries, Luke 6-4 Dekker, Jan

Smith, Ross 6-4 Justicia, Jose

Meulenkamp, Ron 6-2 Durrant, Glen

Woodhouse, Luke 6-4 Bunting, Stephen

Ratajski, Krzysztof 6-2 Killington, George

Henderson, John 6-0 Alcinas, Toni

Clemens , Gabriel 6-3 Klaasen, Jelle

Reyes, Cristo 6-4 Noppert, Danny

Dolan, Brendan 6-1 Edhouse, Ritchie

Van der Voort, Vincent 6-2 Huybrechts, Kim

Beaton, Steve 6-3 Thornton, Robert

Rydz, Callan 6-3 Dobey, Chris

Wade, James 6-4 Meeuwisse, Yordi

Brown, Keegan 6-4 Tabern, Alan

Rodriguez, Rowby-John 6-5 Dudbridge, Mark

Clark, Matt 6-0 King, Mervyn

Chisnall, Dave 6-5 Hughes, Jamie

Boulton, Andy 6-4 Searle, Ryan

Van den Bergh, Dimitri 6-4 Whitlock, Simon

Evetts, Ted 6-4 Van der Meer, Vincent

Suljovic, Mensur 6-3 Carlin, Gavin

O’Connor, William 6-1 Payne, Josh

Cullen, Joe 6-2 Baker, Scott

Razma, Madars 6-1 Mansell, Mickey

Schindler, Martin 6-1 Huybrechts, Ronny

Whitehead, Conan 6-3 Murnan, Joe

De Sousa, Jose 6-2 Aspinall, Nathan

De Zwaan, Jeffrey 6-1 Bates, Barrie

McGeeney, Mark 6-2 Gurney, Daryl

Richardson, James 6-4 Labanauskas, Darius

Smith, Michael 6-3 Dootson, Eddie

Kuivenhoven, Maik 6-2 Pipe, Justin

Losers: £500

Last 32

Smith, Ross 6-4 Humphries, Luke

Woodhouse, Luke 6-3 Meulenkamp, Ron

Ratajski, Krzysztof 6-5 Henderson, John

Clemens , Gabriel 6-1 Reyes, Cristo

Dolan, Brendan 6-3 Van der Voort, Vincent

Rydz, Callan 6-2 Beaton, Steve

Wade, James 6-5 Brown, Keegan

Rodriguez, Rowby-John 6-2 Clark, Matt

Boulton, Andy 6-1 Chisnall, Dave

Van den Bergh, Dimitri 6-4 Evetts, Ted

O’Connor, William 6-4 Suljovic, Mensur

Razma, Madars 6-3 Cullen, Joe

Whitehead, Conan 6-4 Schindler, Martin

De Sousa, Jose 6-3 De Zwaan, Jeffrey

Richardson, James 6-0 McGeeney, Mark

Smith, Michael 6-4 Kuivenhoven, Maik

Losers: £1,000

Last 16

Luke Woodhouse 6-3 Ross Smith

Krzysztof Ratajski 6-2 Gabriel Clemens

Callan Rydz 6-5 Brendan Dolan

James Wade 6-4 Rowby-John Rodriguez

Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-3 Andy Boulton

William O’Connor 6-0 Madars Razma

Jose de Sousa 6-4 Conan Whitehead

James Richardson 6-4 Michael Smith

Losers: £1,500

Quarter-Finals

Krzysztof Ratajski 6-3 Luke Woodhouse

James Wade 6-3 Callan Rydz

Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-1 William O’Connor

Jose de Sousa 6-2 James Richardson

Losers: £2,250

Semi-Finals

James Wade 7-5 Krzysztof Ratajski

Jose de Sousa 7-5 Dimitri Van den Bergh

Losers: £3,000

Final

James Wade 8-5 Jose de Sousa

Winner: £10,000

Runner-up: £6,000