Phil Taylor claimed the second title of his final season before retirement with an 11-8 victory over Peter Wright at the inaugural Melbourne Darts Masters.
By Chris Hammer
The Power, who thrashed Snakebite 18-8 to land his 16th and final World Matchplay crown in Blackpool last month, continues to roll back the years during his farewell campaign, and on this evidence there could well be plenty more success to come.
Having seen off one of the stars of the future in Corey Cadby 10-9 on Saturday, Taylor brushed aside Simon Whitlock 11-4 in the semi-finals to set up a final with the UK Open champion, who had dispensed with Daryl Gurney by the same scoreline as he chased his 10th title of a superb year.
The 57-year-old was marginal favourite heading into the clash with Wright, 47, but it was a real see-saw battle which was all square at 8-8 before Taylor's late charge.
Snakebite produced two showboating double-double finishes to delight the Hisense Arena crowd - first nailing double 17 and then double tops in the sixth leg before twice hitting double 18 in the 11th - while Taylor landed back-to-back checkouts of 112 and 124 to complete victory in style.
The Power didn't land a single 180 during the match - Wright hit seven - but he averaged 98.88 and hit 40.74% of his doubles which was ultimately the difference as Snakebite missed 19 darts at doubles.
The result also maintains Taylor's love affair with World Series of Darts events in Australia having previously won in Sydney four times and Perth twice.
In fact the only time he’s lost one of these matches in Australia was when Cadby beat him in Perth last year but next week the Power will be highly fancied to reclaim that title.
He told the PDC website: "I love it over here in Australia, the crowd are brilliant and I’m loving every minute of it. I've not got many tournaments left in me so I want to win as many as I can before I call it a day. I'm so proud to see the sport growing in this part of the world, I’ve been lucky enough to see it all over the years, but we never believed it would get this big.
"Barry Hearn has done such a brilliant job and here’s to many more years of this sport getting bigger and bigger."
Taylor is Sky Bet’s 8/1 fourth favourite to bow out on an ultimate high at the season-ending World Championship but before then he’ll focus his attentions at the Champions League of Darts, World Grand Prix, World Series of Darts Finals and the Grand Slam of Darts.
Wright, who is 7/1 for the world title behind Michael van Gerwen (8/11) and Gary Anderson (6/1), said: "I've got to learn from these defeats, I will come back stronger and next week in Perth that title is for me."
Taylor v Wright: Head to head
Overall
Taylor 21 wins, Wright 10 wins, 3 draws
2017 meetings
Taylor 10-5 Wright - Masters QF
Peter Wright 5-7 Phil Taylor - Premier League Week 8
Phil Taylor 3-7 Peter Wright - Premier League Week 13
Peter Wright 10-9 Phil Taylor - Premier League SF
Phil Taylor 18-8 Peter Wright – World Matchplay Final
Phil Taylor 11-8 Peter Wright – Melbourne Darts Masters
Earlier in the night Taylor won nine of the last 11 legs to defeat Whitlock, sealing his victory with a 144 checkout and ending the match with a 93.97 average and a 57.89% success rate on his doubles.
Wright also produced a commanding performance against the man he overcame in the Blackpool semi-finals - Gurney - even though he failed to hit a single 180. He averaged 95.27 and hit 55% of his doubles.
Melbourne Darts Masters Results
Friday August 18
First Round (Best of 11 legs)
Daryl Gurney 6-0 Dave Marland
Peter Wright 6-2 Rhys Mathewson
James Wade 6-3 Koha Kokiri
Michael Smith 6-3 David Platt
Phil Taylor 6-3 Cody Harris
Raymond van Barneveld 4-6 Corey Cadby
Gary Anderson 6-2 Justin Thompson
Simon Whitlock 6-1 Kyle Anderson
Click here for a full review
Saturday August 19
Quarter-Finals (Best of 19 legs)
Gary Anderson 8-10 Daryl Gurney
Peter Wright 10-9 Michael Smith
Corey Cadby 9-10 Phil Taylor
James Wade 9-10 Simon Whitlock
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Sunday August 20
Semi-Finals (Best of 21 legs)
Peter Wright 11-4 Daryl Gurney
Phil Taylor 11-4 Simon Whitlock
Final (Best of 21 legs)
Peter Wright 8-11 Phil Taylor
Click here for the full PDC tournament calendar and results
World Series of Darts: Tournament calendar
Dubai Duty Free Darts Masters (May 24-25) - Gary Anderson
Shanghai Darts Masters (July 13-15) - Michael van Gerwen
US Darts Masters (Last Vegas) - July 14-15 - Michael van Gerwen
Auckland Darts Masters - August 11-13 - Kyle Anderson
Melbourne Darts Masters - August 18-20 - Phil Taylor
Perth Darts Masters - August 25-27
German Darts Masters - October 20-21
World Series Finals (Glasgow) - November 3-5