Sporting Life
Peter Wright is European champion
Peter Wright is European champion

Darts results: Peter Wright wins European Championship title after beating James Wade in final

By Chris Hammer
Darts
Sun November 01, 2020 · 4y ago

Peter Wright added the Unibet European Championship to his glittering CV with a superb 11-4 victory over James Wade in Oberhausen.

In a career that continues to go from strength to strength at the age of 50, the 2020 world champion now has four major individual titles among his overall PDC tally of 33 but three of those have come in 2020, starting with his Ally Pally heroics against Michael van Gerwen at the very start of January.

Snakebite, who also won the Masters in February and the 2017 UK Open, was in blistering form throughout the whole tournament, averaging over 102 in all five of his games and ending with an overall mark of 103.3.

Having overcome Jonny Clayton 11-8 in a much closer semi-final earlier in the evening, Wright averaged 104.33 against the Machine thanks to an imperious display which included six of the seven 180s and a pair of 100+ checkouts that came in the final two legs of the match - a 143 break followed by a title-clinching 125.

Wade was bidding for his second European title and 11th major having won it two years ago but apart from a 121 checkout that helped him bounce back from 4-1 down to trail 4-3, he struggled to put enough pressure on the rampant Wright.

The Machine, who averaged 95.28 spurned one dart at tops to level the match at 4-4, while his later misses at the outer ring didn't come until he was 8-4 and 9-4 behind.

Wright won six of his 11 legs in 13 darts or fewer and if he can maintain this kind of form for the rest of the season, he could feasibly end it as world number one.

His winnings of £120,000 lifts him above Gerwyn Price, who he beat on Friday night, in the Order of Merit with 984,000 but is around 500,000 behind MVG.

The Scotsman told www.pdc.tv: "I'm delighted to win, it's great for me and it was good to have the fans here. It's the first final I've got to in the event, I've had a couple and managed to win it. I struggled in the semi-final, it was probably my toughest match and I couldn't get going but I got away with it.

"James has won this before and is a quality player, so to get the win I'm really happy. He can reel off legs so you've got to try and keep him at bay, and luckily enough I did."

Wright had withdrawn from the two European Tour events ahead of the European Championship, but said: "It was good to have a little rest and recharge the batteries, I knew what I needed to do to prepare for this."

Snakebite has also changed his stance slightly with more of a lean towards the board and he said: "Everyone's different but it worked for me. I believe I can be more consistent and I will be playing a lot better than that. I think I can hit some big averages.

"I feel good with my darts and with the way I'm standing but I think I can get better."

Earlier, Snakebite booked his place in a 16th 'major' final - and 22nd overall on TV - by staging a superb comeback against Clayton.

Wright trailed 7-5 against the impressive Ferret, who was chasing his maiden TV title, but showed tremendous character to win six of the next seven legs in a match of real quality.

However, Clayton will rue the costly miscount that occurred at 9-8 down, when he thought he was going for a 101 checkout rather than 110, and Wright made him pay to move one away from victory.

The world champion averaged 102.06 compared to his opponent's 100.95 and hit seven of the 15 180s while his finishing was crucially superior, pinning 11 of his 21 double attempts as Clayton spurned 18 of his 26.

Wade reached his second European Championship final with a trademark Machine-like performance in a thrilling clash against the brilliant Devon Petersen that went to a deciding leg.

The 2018 champion defied the South African's heavy scoring, superior average and barrage of 180s with the same brilliant timing and ruthless finishing at the crunch stages that has served him so well throughout his career, before holding his nerve just when it looked like he'd lost momentum.

Wade looked in real trouble at 8-6 down only to win the next three legs before landing a tremendous 158 checkout to move 10-8 up and onto the brink of victory.

Petersen refused to give in and promptly broke back with a 106 finish before holding his own throw to force a decider and although Wade had the advantage of throw, it looked as though the recent German Darts Championship winner was storming towards the finishing line.

The 34-year-old has been one of the world's biggest scoring players in a remarkable breakthrough season but he could only muster one score above 100 with the pressure of a first TV title on the line and was unable to get a shot at a double as Wade clinched it in 15 darts.

Wade averaged 94.87 compared to his opponent's 97.44, hit four fewer 180s with five and also finished with a slightly worse checkout percentage of 40.74% (11/27) as Petersen pinned 10 of his 22 attempts at doubles.

The pair both produced three 100+ checkouts apiece, with two of the African Warrior's efforts coming in the opening three legs.

Petersen will definitely be back to challenge at the forthcoming majors and can take a lot of positives from another experience of mixing it with the best on the big stage.

European Championship: Daily results

Thursday October 29 (1600 CET)
First Round (Best of 11 legs)
TV Channel: ITV4

  • Jamie Hughes 6-5 Dave Chisnall
  • Krzysztof Ratajski 5-6 Steve West
  • Mervyn King 2-6 Ian White
  • Jose de Sousa 6-3 Jeffrey de Zwaan (De Sousa hits nine-darter)
  • James Wade 6-5 Steve Lennon
  • Devon Petersen 6-1 Andy Hamilton
  • Michael Smith 6-5 Ross Smith
  • Danny Noppert 0-6 Dirk van Duijvenbode
  • Nathan Aspinall 6-3 Maik Kuivenhoven
  • Joe Cullen 3-6 William O'Connor
  • Rob Cross 3-6 Martijn Kleermaker
  • Jonny Clayton 6-5 Max Hopp
  • Michael van Gerwen 6-1 Darius Labanauskas
  • Gerwyn Price 6-1 Kim Huybrechts
  • Peter Wright 6-3 Gabriel Clemens
  • Mensur Suljovic 6-2 Daryl Gurney

CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW

Friday October 30
Afternoon Session (1300 BST)
Second Round (Best of 19 legs)
TV Channel: ITV4

  • William O'Connor 10-3 Jamie Hughes
  • Devon Petersen 10-8 Martin Kleerjmaker
  • Jose de Sousa 6-10 Jonny Clayton
  • Nathan Aspinall 8-10 James Wade

Evening Session (2000 BST)
Second Round (Best of 19 legs)
TV Channel: ITV4

  • Michael Smith 8-10 Dirk van Duijvenbode
  • Gerwyn Price 6-10 Peter Wright
  • Michael van Gerwen 4-10 Ian White
  • Mensur Suljovic 9-10 Steve West

CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW

Saturday October 31 (1900 BST)
Quarter-finals (Best of 19 legs)
TV Channel: ITV4

  • William O'Connor 4-10 James Wade
  • Jonny Clayton 10-4 Dirk van Duijvenbode
  • Peter Wright 10-6 Steve West
  • Devon Petersen 10-6 Ian White

CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW

Sunday November 1
Evening Session (2000 BST)
TV Channel: ITV4
Semi-Final (Best of 21 legs)

  • James Wade 11-10 Devon Petersen
  • Peter Wright 11-8 Jonny Clayton

Final (Best of 21 legs)

  • Peter Wright 11-4 James Wade

European Championship Darts: Prize money

  • Winner: £120,000
  • Runner-up: £60,000
  • Semi-final: £32,000
  • Quarter-final: £20,000
  • Last 16: £10,000
  • Last 32: £6,000
  • Total: £500,000
  • Nine-Darter Bonus £15,000

European Championship Darts: Previous winners

Related links