Red hot Wright completes title hat-trick at Players Championship 20

Peter Wright continued his phenomenal run of form by securing a third title in the space of five days with victory at Players Championship 20 in Barnsley, blitzing Joe Cullen 8-1 in the final.

Wright had claimed his first singles title of the season at the German Masters on Saturday before following it up with glory in Tuesday’s Players Championship 19.

The world number six then picked up from where he left off as he posted six consecutive ton-plus averages and won 34 of his last 38 legs to extend his unbeaten run to 18 matches and take the £10,000 title.

“I wanted to up my 101 average from yesterday and I know Joe is warming up for the Matchplay so I had to be at my best.” said Wright.

“The change in my darts is making things a lot easier. If the first dart goes in the treble 20 and I don’t follow it with the other two, I’m disappointed.

“Winning three titles in five days is definitely a confidence boost going into the World Matchplay and it should be a great tournament.”

Wright began his route to glory by defeating Latvia’s Madars Razma 6-4 before surviving a scare against Alan Norris to prevail in a last-leg decider with a 103 average.

The colourful Scot posted another 103 average as he whitewashed Matt Clark and raised his level further in sweeping aside Jeffrey de Zwaan 6-1 with a 109 average.

Devon Petersen was Snakebite’s next victim as he romped to a 6-0 whitewash with a 108.7 average to book his place in the Semi-Finals – where he ended the resurgent run of Adrian Gray with a 7-2 triumph.

Wright raced to the opening five legs of the final without reply before Cullen finally got off the mark via tops.

The Scot then took out 76 and followed up with a stunning 146 checkout to extend his lead to 7-1 before sealing the deal on tops to end with an average of 105.

Cullen mounted a charge to his first PDC ranking final for two years after victories over Tony Newell, Wayne Jones, Jermaine Wattimena, Gerwyn Price, Rob Cross and Adrian Lewis to mark a timely return to form ahead of the upcoming Betfred World Matchplay.

Elsewhere, Adrian Gray reached his first PDC ranking Semi-Final since 2012, with the Hastings ace defeating the likes of Max Hopp, Justin Pipe, Nathan Aspinall and Steve Beaton along the way.

Two-time World Champion Lewis warmed up for Sunday’s Blackpool show-down with Glen Durrant by reaching the Last Four with a run which included high quality wins over Luke Humphries, Dimitri van den Bergh and Jan Dekker.

South Africa’s Devon Petersen, who will join the Sky Sports team as a pundit during the World Matchplay, enjoyed a run to his first PDC Quarter-Final since 2015.

Christian Kist dispatched Gary Anderson and Dave Chisnall en route to the Last 16, while Durrant, Michael Smith, Simon Whitlock and Chris Dobey were among the notable First Round casualties.

Wednesday July 17

First Round

Ian White 6-2 Yordi Meeuwisse

Mark Dudbridge 6-4 Ted Evetts

Jose Justicia 6-0 Ross Smith

Mark Webster 6-5 Robert Owen

Ryan Searle 6-4 Simon Whitlock

Nathan Derry 6-2 Ritchie Edhouse

Steve Beaton 6-3 Mickey Mansell

Dave Prins 6-4 Shaun Carroll

Nathan Aspinall 6-2 Ronny Huybrechts

Benito van de Pas 6-5 Luke Woodhouse

Mervyn King 6-2 Toni Alcinas

Steve Lennon 6-5 Mario Robbe

Justin Pipe 6-5 Ricky Evans

Darius Labanauskas 6-3 Ron Meulenkamp

Adrian Gray 6-4 Max Hopp

Marko Kantele 6-5 Terry Temple

Peter Wright 6-4 Madars Razma

Alan Norris 6-1 Michael Barnard

Jamie Bain 6-4 Darren Webster

Matt Clark 6-5 Gary Eastwood

Jonny Clayton 6-4 Darren Beveridge

James Richardson 6-3 Vincent Kamphuis

Jeffrey De Zwaan 6-4 Arron Monk

Boris Koltsov 6-3 Andrew Gilding

Daryl Gurney 6-4 Ryan Meikle

Conan Whitehead 6-0 Joe Murnan

Mike van Duivenbode 6-4 Vincent van der Voort

Devon Petersen 6-1 Harry Ward

Peter Hudson 6-4 Michael Smith

Bradley Brooks 6-3 George Killington

Kirk Shepherd 6-5 Jamie Hughes

Jelle Klaasen 6-0 Kevin Burness

Gerwyn Price 6-1 Rowby-John Rodriguez

Gavin Carlin 6-5 Martin Schindler

Kyle Anderson 6-4 Gabriel Clemens

Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-2 David Pallett

Joe Cullen 6-4 Tony Newell

Wayne Jones 6-5 Ryan Joyce

Jermaine Wattimena 6-4 Eddie Dootson

Tytus Kanik 6-1 Scott Baker

Krzysztof Ratajski 6-1 Geert Nentjes

Kim Huybrechts 6-2 Niels Zonneveld

John Henderson 6-3 Carl Wilkinson

Robert Thornton 6-4 Mark Wilson

Rob Cross 6-2 Richard North

Raymond van Barneveld 6-5 Vincent Van der Meer

Alan Tabern 6-5 Danny Noppert

Matthew Edgar 6-1 Jose De Sousa

Adrian Lewis 6-2 Maik Kuivenhoven

Christian Bunse 6-4 Zoran Lerchbacher

Keegan Brown 6-3 Simon Stevenson

Luke Humphries 6-3 Jamie Lewis

Steve West 6-4 Glen Durrant

Cristo Reyes 6-4 Josh Payne

Reece Robinson 6-5 Chris Dobey

Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-3 Ryan Harrington

Dave Chisnall 6-1 Andy Boulton

Davy Van Baelen 6-5 William O’Connor

Gary Anderson 6-3 James Wilson

Christian Kist 6-5 Jonathan Worsley

Mensur Suljovic 6-4 Mark McGeeney

Adam Hunt 6-3 Barrie Bates

Stephen Bunting 6-5 Brendan Dolan

Jan Dekker 6-1 Stephen Burton

Second Round

Ian White 6-4 Mark Dudbridge

Jose Justicia 6-3 Mark Webster

Ryan Searle 6-4 Nathan Derry

Steve Beaton 6-3 Dave Prins

Nathan Aspinall 6-1 Benito van de Pas

Steve Lennon 6-0 Mervyn King

Justin Pipe 6-3 Darius Labanauskas

Adrian Gray 6-1 Marko Kantele

Peter Wright 6-5 Alan Norris

Matt Clark 6-5 Jamie Bain

Jonny Clayton 6-1 James Richardson

Jeffrey De Zwaan 6-2 Boris Koltsov

Daryl Gurney 6-2 Conan Whitehead

Devon Petersen 6-5 Mike van Duivenbode

Bradley Brooks 6-3 Peter Hudson

Jelle Klaasen 6-1 Kirk Shepherd

Gerwyn Price 6-4 Gavin Carlin

Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-2 Kyle Anderson

Joe Cullen 6-3 Wayne Jones

Jermaine Wattimena 6-4 Tytus Kanik

Krzysztof Ratajski 6-0 Kim Huybrechts

John Henderson 6-0 Robert Thornton

Rob Cross 6-4 Raymond van Barneveld

Matthew Edgar 6-5 Alan Tabern

Adrian Lewis 6-1 Christian Bunse

Luke Humphries 6-2 Keegan Brown

Steve West 6-5 Cristo Reyes

Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-1 Reece Robinson

Dave Chisnall 6-3 Davy Van Baelen

Christian Kist 6-4 Gary Anderson

Mensur Suljovic 6-0 Adam Hunt

Jan Dekker 6-3 Stephen Bunting

Losers: £500

Last 32

Jose Justicia 6-4 Ian White

Steve Beaton 6-3 Ryan Searle

Nathan Aspinall 6-5 Steve Lennon

Adrian Gray 6-5 Justin Pipe

Peter Wright 6-0 Matt Clark

Jeffrey De Zwaan 6-2 Jonny Clayton

Devon Petersen 6-3 Daryl Gurney

Jelle Klaasen 6-3 Bradley Brooks

Gerwyn Price 6-2 Dirk van Duijvenbode

Joe Cullen 6-5 Jermaine Wattimena

Krzysztof Ratajski 6-4 John Henderson

Rob Cross 6-3 Matthew Edgar

Adrian Lewis 6-4 Luke Humphries

Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-3 Steve West

Christian Kist 6-5 Dave Chisnall

Jan Dekker 6-2 Mensur Suljovic

Losers: £1,000

Last 16

Steve Beaton 6-3

Adrian Gray 6-4 Nathan Aspinall

Peter Wright 6-1 Jeffrey De Zwaan

Devon Petersen 6-5 Jelle Klaasen

Joe Cullen 6-2 Gerwyn Price

Rob Cross 6-0 Krzysztof Ratajski

Adrian Lewis 6-5 Dimitri van den Bergh

Jan Dekker 6-3 Christian Kist

Losers: £1,500

Quarter-Finals

Adrian Gray 6-4 Steve Beaton

Peter Wright 6-0 Devon Petersen

Joe Cullen 6-4 Rob Cross

Adrian Lewis 6-2 Jan Dekker

Losers: £2,250

Semi-Finals

Peter Wright 7-2 Adrian Gray 

Joe Cullen 7-2 Adrian Lewis

Losers: £3,000

Final

Peter Wright 8-1 Joe Cullen

Winner: £10,000

Runner-up: £6,000