Players Championship 18: Nathan Aspinall wins maiden PDC ranking title
Nathan Aspinall claimed his first PDC ranking title with a 6-4 win over Ryan Searle in the final of Players Championship 18 at The Barnsley Metrodome on Wednesday.
Previously a winner on both the Challenge Tour and Development Tour, the 27-year-old edged past Searle in a match which saw both players appearing in their first PDC ranking finals.
Aspinall bounced back from Tuesday's first round defeat to Searle at Players Championship 17 to overcome Diogo Portela, Danny Noppert, Ritchie Edhouse, James Wilson, Steve Beaton and Ian White en route to clinching the £10,000 top prize.
"This is massive for me and my family, I am so happy," said Aspinall, who had previously failed to reach the quarter-finals of a ProTour event in 2018.
"When you have an opportunity you've got to take it and I've done that today - it all clicked together.
"Everyone always said I had potential but I've always just come up short. I know I've got the game and I knew my time would come and today is that day."
It was a strong start from Searle, who struck back-to-back 14-dart legs to open up an early 2-0 advantage.
Aspinall hit back, reeling off the next four legs which included classy finishes of 107 and 98 before Searle found tops to stop the rot at 4-3.
The next leg saw Aspinall pile on the pressure with a maximum but Searle found double four at the first attempt to level it up once again.
The tension was starting to tell as both players missed darts at double to go within a leg of victory but it was Aspinall who hit double four to go 5-4 up and then held throw in the following leg, pinning tops to secure the biggest win of his career.
Searle was also delighted with his day’s work which saw the two-time Challenge Tour winner claim victories over Mario Robbe, Jermaine Wattimena, Gary Anderson, Tony Newell, Steve Lennon and Ron Meulenkamp.
Elsewhere, Tuesday's Players Championship 17 winner Peter Wright, who triumphed on a day that saw two nine-darters, suffered a first round exit at the hands of Arron Monk, while World Champion Rob Cross went out in round two to Simon Stevenson.
Tuesday's runner-up Daryl Gurney also lost in the first round to Andy Boulton, Simon Whitlock went out in the second round to Cody Harris and Dave Chisnall went down to Luke Woodhouse in round one.
Players Championship 18 results
Last 128
- Arron Monk 6-2 Peter Wright
- Ritchie Edhouse 6-5 Darren Johnson
- Danny Noppert 6-1 Wayne Jones
- Nathan Aspinall 6-1 Diogo Portela
- James Wilson 6-0 Peter Hudson
- Ryan Joyce 6-3 Peter Jacques
- Stephen Bunting 6-1 Justin Pipe
- Rowby-John Rodriguez 6-5 Michael Barnard
- Joe Cullen 6-5 Zoran Lerchbacher
- Madars Razma 6-0 Jamie Bain
- Jelle Klaasen 6-2 Alan Norris
- George Killington 6-5 Ricky Evans
- Andy Boulton 6-4 Daryl Gurney
- Jason Cullen 6-5 Adam Hunt
- Steve Beaton 6-2 Dawson Murschell
- Chris Quantock 6-1 Jim Brown
- James Wade 6-1 Rhys Griffin
- Brendan Dolan 6-4 Richie Burnett
- Josh Payne 6-1 Jimmy Hendriks
- Richard North 6-1 Joe Murnan
- Gerwyn Price 6-4 David Pallett
- Ronny Huybrechts 6-5 Ross Smith
- Devon Petersen 6-4 Steve West
- Matthew Edgar 6-1 Ryan Harrington
- Ian White 6-2 Scott Taylor
- Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-2 Kevin Painter
- Vincent van der Voort 6-5 Yordi Meeuwisse
- Jeffrey de Graaf 6-1 Simon Preston
- Max Hopp 6-5 Robert Marijanovic
- Jan Dekker 6-4 Mark Wilson
- Tytus Kanik 6-3 Kim Huybrechts
- William O'Connor 6-5 John Part
- Rob Cross 6-0 Benito van de Pas
- Simon Stevenson 6-5 Mickey Mansell
- Ron Meulenkamp 6-2 Gabriel Clemens
- Davy Van Baelen 6-4 Mark Dudbridge
- Luke Woodhouse 6-4 Dave Chisnall
- Kyle Anderson 6-2 Martin Schindler
- Mervyn King 6-1 Cameron Menzies
- Andrew Gilding 6-5 Terry Jenkins
- Adrian Lewis 6-5 Steve Hine
- Kirk Shepherd 6-3 Scott Darbyshire
- Jeffrey de Zwaan 6-5 John Davey
- Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-5 Vincent Kamphuis
- Simon Whitlock 6-1 Ross Twell
- Cody Harris 6-4 Gary Eastwood
- John Henderson 6-4 Stephen Burton
- Jarred Cole 6-4 Jamie Lewis
- Kevin Burness 6-2 Jonny Clayton
- Robert Thornton 6-1 Eddie Dootson
- Steve Lennon 6-4 Paul Nicholson
- Robert Owen 6-3 Jamie Caven
- Darren Webster 6-2 Cristo Reyes
- Mark Webster 6-3 James Richardson
- Keegan Brown 6-3 Matthew Dennant
- Bradley Brooks 6-5 Adam Huckvale
- Michael Smith 6-2 Dennis Nilsson
- Luke Humphries 6-2 Terry Temple
- Christian Kist 6-3 Chris Dobey
- Tony Newell 6-1 Prakash Jiwa
- Gary Anderson 6-1 Aden Kirk
- Toni Alcinas 6-5 Alan Tabern
- Jermaine Wattimena 6-4 Dave Prins
- Ryan Searle 6-4 Mario Robbe
Last 64
- Ritchie Edhouse 6-3 Arron Monk
- Nathan Aspinall 6-4 Danny Noppert
- James Wilson 6-2 Ryan Joyce
- Stephen Bunting 6-2 Rowby-John Rodriguez
- Joe Cullen 6-1 Madars Razma
- Jelle Klaasen 6-2 George Killington
- Andy Boulton 6-1 Jason Cullen
- Steve Beaton 6-2 Chris Quantock
- Brendan Dolan 6-3 James Wade
- Richard North 6-5 Josh Payne
- Gerwyn Price 6-4 Ronny Huybrechts
- Matthew Edgar 6-3 Devon Petersen
- Ian White 6-2 Dirk van Duijvenbode
- Vincent van der Voort 6-3 Jeffrey de Graaf
- Jan Dekker 6-4 Max Hopp
- William O'Connor 6-4 Tytus Kanik
- Simon Stevenson 6-3 Rob Cross
- Ron Meulenkamp 6-2 Davy Van Baelen
- Luke Woodhouse 6-5 Kyle Anderson
- Mervyn King 6-0 Andrew Gilding
- Adrian Lewis 6-1 Kirk Shepherd
- Jeffrey de Zwaan 6-5 Dimitri Van den Bergh
- Cody Harris 6-4 Simon Whitlock
- John Henderson 6-0 Jarred Cole
- Robert Thornton 6-4 Kevin Burness
- Steve Lennon 6-3 Robert Owen
- Darren Webster 6-0 Mark Webster
- Keegan Brown 6-3 Bradley Brooks
- Michael Smith 6-3 Luke Humphries
- Tony Newell 6-5 Christian Kist
- Gary Anderson 6-5 Toni Alcinas
- Ryan Searle 6-3 Jermaine Wattimena
- Last 3 2
- Nathan Aspinall 6-4 Ritchie Edhouse
- James Wilson 6-4 Stephen Bunting
- Jelle Klaasen 6-4 Joe Cullen
- Steve Beaton 6-2 Andy Boulton
- Richard North 6-2 Brendan Dolan
- Gerwyn Price 6-4 Matthew Edgar
- Ian White 6-1 Vincent van der Voort
- Jan Dekker 6-5 William O'Connor
- Ron Meulenkamp 6-4 Simon Stevenson
- Mervyn King 6-1 Luke Woodhouse
- Adrian Lewis 6-4 Jeffrey de Zwaan
- John Henderson 6-3 Cody Harris
- Steve Lennon 6-1 Robert Thornton
- Darren Webster 6-3 Keegan Brown
- Tony Newell 6-5 Michael Smith
- Ryan Searle 6-5 Gary Anderson
Last 16
- Nathan Aspinall 6-3 James Wilson
- Steve Beaton 6-4 Jelle Klaasen
- Gerwyn Price 6-1 Richard North
- Ian White 6-2 Jan Dekker
- Ron Meulenkamp 6-2 Mervyn King
- John Henderson 6-3 Adrian Lewis
- Steve Lennon 6-5 Darren Webster
- Ryan Searle 6-2 Tony Newell
Last Eight
- Nathan Aspinall 6-5 Steve Beaton
- Ian White 6-5 Gerwyn Price
- Ron Meulenkamp 6-3 John Henderson
- Ryan Searle 6-4 Steve Lennon
Last Four
- Nathan Aspinall 6-5 Ian White
- Ryan Searle 6-5 Ron Meulenkamp
Final
- Nathan Aspinall 6-4 Ryan Searle