Ian White wins Players Championship Six title in Milton Keynes
Ian White ended a two-year gap between ranking titles by winning Sunday's Players Championship Six, edging out Dave Chisnall 6-5 in the final.
The Stoke-based ace had claimed the most recent of his seven ranking titles in 2016, but went all the way to pick up the £10,000 winner's cheque as the PDC ProTour weekend at Arena MK in Milton Keynes came to a close.
Having been a semi-finalist twice on the circuit so far this year, White erased those memories with a fine display to claim seven victories on Sunday.
The final was a tense affair with neither player able to command complete control of the encounter but it was White who held his nerve to come through in the deciding leg.
White began the match with a 180 before going on to break and then holding throw to give himself an early 2-0 lead.
In the third leg a 124 checkout secured Chisnall his first leg of the match as the pair went on to exchange holds of throw until the eighth leg.
Chisnall, a runner-up at the Players Championship Finals in 2016, then broke White to level the score at 4-4 before a hold of throw moved the Englishman a leg away from claiming the title.
A dramatic 10th leg saw 37-year-old Chisnall miss the bullseye for the title before White stepped in to level the match at 5-5 on double ten and take the match to a deciding leg.
Under immense pressure, White was able to find a maximum before going on to produce a 14-dart break of throw to earn the narrowest of victories.
A whitewash of Maik Langendorf was sandwiched by early 6-3 wins over Luke Woodhouse and Keegan Brown, before White dropped just one leg against Saturday's semi-finalist James Wade.
He then saw off John Henderson 6-2 and Mervyn King with a 6-3 scoreline as he won through to the final, where he survived one missed match dart from Chisnall to claim the title.
Like White, Chisnall enjoyed his best finish of 2018 so far as he won through to the final, but was denied his 13th ranking victory in agonising fashion in the decider.
Chisnall defeated Arron Monk, Peter Jacques, Cristo Reyes, Ricky Evans and Stephen Bunting as he progressed through the field, before coming through an 11-leg semi-final with James Wilson.
Wilson was joined by King in the last four, while World Champion Rob Cross and World Youth Champion Dimitri Van den Bergh were quarter-finalists alongside Bunting and Henderson.
Sunday's Players Championship Six also featured a nine-dart finish from Steve Hine, although the achievement came during his defeat to John Henderson in round one.
Players Championship Six results
Last 128
Michael van Gerwen 6-4 Steve Lennon
Robbie Green 6-4 Mark Webster
Jermaine Wattimena 6-2 Luke Humphries
Vincent Kamphuis 6-4 Ben Burton
Jimmy Hendriks 6-5 Darren Webster
Ryan Harrington 6-3 Mario Robbe
Stephen Bunting 6-3 Robert Marijanovic
Bradley Brooks 6-2 Jarred Cole
Dave Chisnall 6-2 Arron Monk
Peter Jacques 6-4 Dirk van Duijvenbode
Cristo Reyes 6-4 Terry Jenkins
Max Hopp 6-2 Tytus Kanik
Gary Anderson 6-5 Toni Alcinas
Ricky Evans 6-4 Brendan Dolan
Diogo Portela 6-2 Alan Norris
Simon Stevenson 6-2 Richie Burnett
Daryl Gurney 6-3 Kirk Shepherd
Ross Twell 6-5 Ronny Huybrechts
James Wilson 6-3 Ritchie Edhouse
Ron Meulenkamp 6-4 William O'Connor
Jelle Klaasen 6-4 Jamie Caven
Aden Kirk 6-5 Peter Hudson
Steve Beaton 6-2 Davy Van Baelen
Jeffrey de Graaf 6-2 Ryan Searle
Rob Cross 6-2 Eddie Dootson
Jamie Bain 6-4 Sven Groen
Vincent van der Voort 6-3 James Richardson
Mickey Mansell 6-2 Adam Hunt
Josh Payne 6-4 Gerwyn Price
Mark Dudbridge 6-2 Stephen Burton
Cameron Menzies 6-2 Jonny Clayton
Chris Dobey 6-5 Gary Eastwood
Peter Wright 6-3 Nathan Aspinall
Jan Dekker 6-4 Matthew Edgar
Justin Pipe 6-2 Chris Quantock
George Killington 6-3 Andrew Gilding
Mervyn King 6-0 Robert Owen
Alan Tabern 6-4 Darren Johnson
Kyle Anderson 6-2 Dawson Murschell
Scott Taylor 6-2 Ryan Meikle
Steve West 6-5 Joe Cullen
Mark Wilson 6-0 Jim Brown
Richard North 6-1 Ross Smith
Joe Murnan 6-4 Zoran Lerchbacher
Kim Huybrechts 6-2 John Part
Rowby-John Rodriguez 6-3 Gabriel Clemens
Adrian Lewis 6-0 Mick McGowan
Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-4 Prakash Jiwa
Mensur Suljovic 6-5 John Goldie
Jeffrey de Zwaan 6-3 Martin Schindler
James Wade 6-5 Kevin Painter
Jamie Lewis 6-2 Martin Atkins (Wigan)
Ian White 6-3 Luke Woodhouse
Maik Langendorf 6-5 Wayne Jones
Benito van de Pas 6-4 Kevin Burness
Keegan Brown 6-1 Paul Nicholson
Jason Cullen 6-3 Michael Smith
Ryan Joyce 6-5 Paul Rowley
Robert Thornton 6-2 Terry Temple
Michael Barnard 6-4 Simon Preston
Simon Whitlock 6-4 Tony Newell
Madars Razma 6-1 Jose Justicia
John Henderson 6-4 Steve Hine
Danny Noppert 6-4 Christian Kist
Last 64
Michael van Gerwen 6-1 Robbie Green
Jermaine Wattimena 6-4 Vincent Kamphuis
Jimmy Hendriks 6-4 Ryan Harrington
Stephen Bunting 6-4 Bradley Brooks
Dave Chisnall 6-4 Peter Jacques
Cristo Reyes 6-3 Max Hopp
Ricky Evans 6-4 Gary Anderson
Simon Stevenson 6-2 Diogo Portela
Daryl Gurney 6-3 Ross Twell
James Wilson 6-3 Ron Meulenkamp
Jelle Klaasen 6-3 Aden Kirk
Steve Beaton 6-5 Jeffrey de Graaf
Rob Cross 6-0 Jamie Bain
Mickey Mansell 6-5 Vincent van der Voort
Josh Payne 6-2 Mark Dudbridge
Chris Dobey 6-4 Cameron Menzies
Jan Dekker 6-5 Peter Wright
George Killington 6-3 Justin Pipe
Mervyn King 6-3 Alan Tabern
Kyle Anderson 6-3 Scott Taylor
Steve West 6-3 Mark Wilson
Richard North 6-5 Joe Murnan
Kim Huybrechts 6-5 Rowby-John Rodriguez
Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-1 Adrian Lewis
Jeffrey de Zwaan 6-2 Mensur Suljovic
James Wade 6-5 Jamie Lewis
Ian White 6-0 Maik Langendorf
Keegan Brown 6-1 Benito van de Pas
Ryan Joyce 6-4 Jason Cullen
Robert Thornton 6-2 Michael Barnard
Madars Razma 6-3 Simon Whitlock
John Henderson 6-4 Danny Noppert
Last 32
Jermaine Wattimena 6-4 Michael van Gerwen
Stephen Bunting 6-1 Jimmy Hendriks
Dave Chisnall 6-3 Cristo Reyes
Ricky Evans 6-4 Simon Stevenson
James Wilson 6-4 Daryl Gurney
Jelle Klaasen 6-4 Steve Beaton
Rob Cross 6-5 Mickey Mansell
Josh Payne 6-2 Chris Dobey
George Killington 6-5 Jan Dekker
Mervyn King 6-3 Kyle Anderson
Richard North 6-1 Steve West
Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-5 Kim Huybrechts
James Wade 6-5 Jeffrey de Zwaan
Ian White 6-3 Keegan Brown
Ryan Joyce 6-1 Robert Thornton
John Henderson 6-5 Madars Razma
Last 16
Stephen Bunting 6-3 Jermaine Wattimena
Dave Chisnall 6-2 Ricky Evans
James Wilson 6-3 Jelle Klaasen
Rob Cross 6-4 Josh Payne
Mervyn King 6-3 George Killington
Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-4 Richard North
Ian White 6-1 James Wade
John Henderson 6-3 Ryan Joyce
Last Eight
Dave Chisnall 6-3 Stephen Bunting
James Wilson 6-4 Rob Cross
Mervyn King 6-3 Dimitri Van den Bergh
Ian White 6-2 John Henderson
Last Four
Dave Chisnall 6-5 James Wilson
Ian White 6-3 Mervyn King
Final
Ian White 6-5 Dave Chisnall
Related darts links