Nathan Aspinall won the UK Open (Picture: Lawrence Lustig/PDC)

UK Open Darts results: Nathan Aspinall hits a 170 checkout to defeat Rob Cross in the final

By Chris Hammer

Darts

Mon March 04, 2019 · 6y ago

Nathan Aspinall won his first major PDC title as he won the Ladbrokes UK Open final against Rob Cross in spectacular fashion with a 170 checkout.

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The Stockport man, who was tipped up on these pages at 125/1 each-way pre-tournament, had come through a titanic battle with the new favourite Gerwyn Price earlier in the evening to reach his first televised final but the biggest match of his life was a lot more straight-forward than anyone could have anticipated.

Cross - also advised here at 18/1 - was bidding to win his second big major having not tasted success since the 2018 world championship but he struggled for prolonged periods to get anywhere near his best and afterwards admitted he had nothing left in the tank following a gruelling three days of darts.

Voltage hit eight 180s but averaged just 84 and missed 15 darts at doubles, as Aspinall's below-par mark of 88.72 was comfortably enough to coast towards the finishing line before finishing the job in style to pocket £100,000 and move into the world's top 16.

It's been a remarkable few months for Aspinall, who won his first Players Championship title back in September having only earned his Tour Card back at the start of 2018 before reaching the semi-finals of his debut World Championship in December.

He's produced some superb performances on the Pro Tour this season, including a thumping 6-1 victory over Michael van Gerwen in Players Championship Four, so this fantastic run at Butlin's Minehead Resort shouldn't be seen as such a shock despite his pre-tournament odds.

The Asp came into the tournament ranked 34th on the Order of Merit which means he's the first player to win a ranked TV major from outside the top 32 since 2012 while he's also the quickest player to reach the top 16 since earning a Tour Card.

"I've worked so hard to get this far and to win this title is just a truly amazing feeling," said an emotional Aspinall.

"[In 2014] my grandad and I were sat in the crowd and I told him I'm as good as the players up there, and now here I am lifting the trophy on this stage, it's just unreal. I want to thank my family because I'm away a lot so this is for them and I'd like to thank everyone for their support.

"The standard is so tough now, it was a long day for us both and neither Rob nor I played like we can in the final but I'm just so happy to get the win."

Aspinall, who also defeated Toni Alcinas, Christian Kist, Madars Razma, Steve Lennon and Ross Smith en route to the final, found himself 1-0 down when Cross landed an 81 checkout for a 12-darter but that didn't set the tone for the rest of the contest in terms of quality.

From 2-2, Aspinall won three legs on the spin although some missed darts at doubles allowed Cross to stay in touch before the former world champion took out 81 again for an 11-darter as he closed the gap to 6-5.

The wheels quickly came off for Voltage quicker than he'd put them back on as Aspinall won five legs in succession - but none of them were finished in less than 16 darts until his show-stopping finish.

"Full credit to Nathan, he played well but I had nothing left which is a great shame," said Cross. "This tournament was a massive start to my career in 2016 and it was great to play well here in front of this amazing crowd again.

"Unfortunately I came up just short in the final but take nothing away from Nathan, he was pure class all the way through."

Scroll down for semi-final and quarter-final round-ups and highlights

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Semi-finals

Nathan Aspinall withstood a stunning comeback from Gerwyn Price to win a thrilling clash 11-9 and reach his first major ranking final.

In a repeat of their epic World Championship clash, in which Price was on the receiving end shock defeat despite leading 2-0 in sets, the Stockport thrower surged into leads of 5-1 and 9-4 as the Iceman struggled to reproduce the kind of form we've seen from him all weekend.

Aspinall won the 13th leg with a superb 100 checkout but Price then suddenly sparked into life - with the celebrations to match - by winning three legs on the trot, including a fine checkout from 70.

The Welshman's revival looked dead in the water when Aspinall produced a stunning finish from 121 to complete a 12-dart under huge pressure as Price waited on 41 after firing in a maximum.

Price never gave in and his display of guts and superb late run of quality darts, which saw him take the next two legs to move to within one leg, was warmly received by the crowd, who he's really started to win round in recent weeks.

However, just when Price looked set to force a deciding leg when needing 70, he hit single one and subsequently failed to pin his only attempt at the bullseye as Aspinall completed a famous triumph.

Aspinall averaged 94.35 compared to Price's 95.37 and despite hitting three fewer 180s with three, he was far more clinical on his doubles, hitting 50% of his attempts as his opponent missed 14.

Next he will meet Rob Cross, who reached his first major final since winning the 2018 world champion after an 11-7 victory over a lacklustre Michael Smith.

Bully Boy, still struggling on his feet due to the long weekend which followed surgery to remove an abscess on his leg last Monday, fired in seven 180s in a pretty impressive average of 95.51 but he crucially missed 15 darts at doubles as Cross made 11 of his 20 attempts.

Voltage started fantastically well with a 146 in the opening leg and although he wasn't at his best either, he did manage two other 100+ checkouts.

Scroll down for afternoon session results and round-up

Afternoon session (Quarter-finals)

Rob Cross booked his place in his first major ranking semi-final since winning the 2018 World Championship as he defeated Josh Payne 10-7 at the Ladbrokes UK Open.

Voltage, one of three pre-tournament tips still alive at 18/1 along with Gerwyn Price (20/1) and Nathan Aspinall (125/1), headed into the day as marginal bookies favourite ahead of Michael Smith and Gerwyn Price having so far taken advantage of the shock opening-day exits of Michael van Gerwen and Gary Anderson and despite a late wobble against the young Englishman, a second major televised title remains in sight.

Cross averaged 95.03 compared to Payne's 97.34 and hit one more maximum with five, while both players were almost equally impressive on their doubles - the Hastings man hit 10 of his 17 attempts as his opponent missed just five.

Having trailed 2-0, Payne produced a fine 12-darter in the eighth leg to complete a mini comeback from 2-1 down to level matters at 4-4 only for Voltage to take control with four on the spin, including back-to-back 13-darters.

With the finishing line in sight, Voltage let his standards slip to lose three of the next four before finally getting the job done by taking out 56 after Payne missed a dart at double 16.

Michael Smith continued to defy the pain of his leg injury as he raced past Steve Beaton 10-1 to prolong his finest ever showing at a UK Open.

Bully Boy, who had emergency surgery to remove an abscess on Monday and has since been playing on painkillers and strapping on his wounded leg, has now won five matches in a row including his Premier League clash with Raymond van Barneveld.

The World Championship runner-up only needed 20 minutes to beat Jermaine Wattimena on Saturday night and this triumph was even more ruthless as he averaged 100.97, fired four 180s and hitting 10 of his 16 attempts at doubles.

His match high checkout of 110 put him into a 6-0 lead while he completed a resounding triumph with an 84 finish on the bullseye.

It was a sad way for the Bronzed Adonis' best ever run at a UK Open since 2004 to end but the 54-year-old, who only managed an average of 93.18 and missed seven of his eight double attempts, comes away from the Butlin's Minehead Resort with a huge amount of credit having stunned Gary Anderson on Friday.

Grand Slam of Darts champion Gerwyn Price, tipped up here at 20/1 each-way pre-tournament, also reached the last four for the second time in three years with a routine 10-5 victory over surprise quarter-finalist Simon Stevenson.

The 2017 runner-up, who also reached the last eight 12 months ago, will be strongly fancied to win his third title in the space of a week and his second big TV major since November after posting a third successive average over 100.

Price won back-to-back Players Championship events in some style last weekend and maintained his momentum in Minehead with impressive victories over Joe Cullen, Jamie Hughes and Krzysztof Ratajski prior to this clash in which he averaged 100.21, hit six 180s and pinned 10 of his 22 attempts at a finish including one at the bullseye for a show-stopping 164.

The crowd are even starting to get on the side of the Iceman, who faced vociferous boos in the wake of that Grand Slam final against Gary Anderson, thanks to these consistent string of high quality performances and big 100+ checkouts.

Stevenson, playing in his first major quarter-final having been a 1000/1 pre-tournament outsider, stayed in the game at 4-4 but he blew a great chance to break in the next leg and Price punished him by winning six of the next seven legs to complete a resounding triumph.

Nathan Aspinall is into his second successive major semi-final after an impressive 10-6 victory over Ross Smith.

The Asp, who reached the last four of the World Championship before losing to Michael Smith, was too strong for the 750/1 pre-tournament outsider early on and although his opponent threatened a recovery, a timely a 170 checkout put him back in control.

The Stockport thrower had seen an 8-3 lead cut to 8-5 before landing the big fish to complete a 12-darter - with Smith waiting on 40 - and two legs later he'd reached his maiden UK Open semi-final.

Aspinall averaged 96.49 having been well above 100 earlier in the tie while he hit three 180s and converted nine of his 18 attempts at doubles.