Darts results: Dave Chisnall wins second PDC title of the season at Players Championship Seven

By Chris Hammer

19:28 · SAT March 16, 2019

Dave Chisnall produced a string of superb displays en route to winning his second PDC title of the season as he defeated Daryl Gurney 8-6 in the Players Championship Seven final in Wigan.

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Chizzy has been in great form on the ProTour in 2019, winning his first Players Championship event since 2017 last month before reaching the semi-finals in the fifth tournament, and continued his resurgence in some style at the Robin Park Tennis Centre on Satuday.

The St Helens thrower, who now has 14 career titles, averaged over 100 on four occasions including a stunning 109.1 in a 7-2 semi-final win over Mark McGeeney - in which he also hit all seven of his attempts at doubles - and 108.4 when beating Rob Cross 6-3 in the last 16.

In a hard-fought final against Gurney, he threw seven 180s and averaged just shy of a ton with 99.4 compared to his opponent's 94 while his highest checkout was 119.

Chizzy told www.pdc.tv: "I've been playing really well in practice and I knew I would take some beating today. There were some great performances from me today, I didn't bring my best game into the final but I took my chances at the crucial points.

"This could be a massive year for me, I believe I can win 15 or 16 titles. I'm playing well enough and I've got a great team behind me so why not?

"My goal is to be in all the big tournaments but you've got to be playing well to get in them and so far this year that's what I'm doing, now I need to keep my form going."

Chisnall's other ton+ averages came in his 6-2 and 6-3 wins over Ritchie Edhouse (104.3) and Stephen Bunting (102.7) respectively while he also saw off Davy van Baelen 6-1 in the opening round and Gary Anderson's conqueror Vincent van der Voort 6-3 in the quarter-finals.

Gurney will nevertheless be cheered by reaching his 10th PDC final having endured a difficult few weeks.

A pair of 7-1 and 7-0 Premier League defeats to Rob Cross and James Wade respectively came either side of an early UK Open exit, while he hadn't gone beyond the last 32 in any of the previous six Players Championship events.

But a gallant fightback to earn a draw with Peter Wright on Thursday night restored some lost confidence and he carried this into Saturday, starting with a 6-2 win over Niels Zonneveld before a high-class 6-4 triumph against UK Open champion Nathan Aspinall in which both players averaged over 100.

The 2018 Players Championship Finals winner then saw off Yordi Meeuwisse 6-4 and Keegan Brown 6-2 before edging out Jermaine Wattimena 6-5 and ending Gerwyn Price's 19-match unbeaten run on the ProTour to reach his first final on the floor since Players Championship 17 in September 2018.

Price showed a return to form after his disappointing 7-2 defeat to Michael van Gerwen in the Premier League on Thursday night.

The Grand Slam of Darts champion, who had won the last two Players Championship events this season and also reached the UK Open semi-finals, consistently averaged in the mid to high 90s during his triumphs over Justin Pipe (6-2), Raymond van Barneveld (6-3), Cristo Reyes (98.4), Ricky Evans (6-0) and Ryan Searle (6-4) to cruise into the last four but ran out of steam against Gurney as his 19-match unbeaten run on the Pro Tour ended.

Former Lakeside runner-up McGeeney enjoyed his best run since earning his PDC tour card at Qualifying School in January thanks to victories over John Henderson (6-4), Terry Temple (6-3), Jonny Clayton (6-2), Chris Dobey (6-3) and Ron Meulenkamp (6-5).

Elsewhere, Gary Anderson's first Players Championship outing of the season ended in the second round when van der Voort beat him 6-5 while Premier League stars Peter Wright and Michael Smith fell at the first hurdles to Robert Marijanovic and Ryan Joyce respectively.

James Wade didn't fare much better, losing 6-5 to Arron Monk in round two, while Mensur Suljovic and van Gerwen did not enter.