Darts results: Dirk van Duijvenbode claims third title of the year with Players Championship Ten victory

The Dutchman has already scooped two previous Players Championship wins this year, and added a further £12,000 to his rankings by seeing off Jose de Sousa in Sunday's final.

A high-quality day of darts from Van Duijvenbode also saw him see off UK Open champion Andrew Gilding and Premier League star Dimitri Van den Bergh on his way to the title.

"I wanted three [titles] and I have three," said Van Duijvenbode, who was also a runner-up on the European Tour in the European Darts Open last month.

"I think I was a bit lucky today. I shouldn't have been lucky but against Matt Campbell I should have won 6-3 or 6-2, and I didn't finish it off and at the end he was better.

"I was lucky that I won it at the end and now I won the tournament. In the final, I was so happy with the 156. Jose was about to come back.

"Sometimes I think that knowing what you're capable of, knowing you can hit two 180s in a row, you always feel confident. Sometimes you're lucky, sometimes you're not."

The 2020 World Grand Prix runner-up, Van Duijvenbode is now closing in on a spot in the world's top ten for the first time - sitting less than £50,000 behind Van den Bergh.

"Two years ago when I made the top 32, I wanted to maintain the top 32 position because I didn't think I was good enough to make the top 16 on a regular basis," added the world number 11.

"Now the top ten is my goal for this year. The gap was very big between me and the top ten, I'm closing it but you won't get it easily because they're all good.

"I'm trying my best, trying to keep improving and not be satisfied. I need to be eager to keep on winning and keep on improving. I need to work on my confidence and my game is getting better every week."

He found his heavy-scoring form from the start, opening with a near-106 average in seeing off Frenchman Jacques Labre 6-1, before edging out both Canada's Matt Campbell and former World Youth Champion Bradley Brooks in deciding legs.

Van Duijvenbode followed up a 6-2 win over Gilding by defeating fellow countryman Martijn Kleermaker by the same margin in the quarter-finals.

He was pushed all the way by Van den Bergh in the semi-finals, but was an emphatic winner in the final after taking command against De Sousa by winning the opening five legs without reply.

The Portuguese ace took three of the next four to pull back to 6-3, despite Van Duijvenbode following up an earlier 113 checkout with a 156 combination, before the Dutch ace took the next two for victory.

2023 Players Championship Ten results

Last 16

• Jose de Sousa 6-5 Luke Humphries
• Martin Schindler 6-2 Christian Kist
• Damon Heta 6-1 Lee Evans
• Ian White 6-5 Luke Woodhouse
• Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-5 Jermaine Wattimena
• Josh Rock 6-4 Jonny Clayton
• Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-2 Andrew Gilding
• Martijn Kleermaker 6-3 Jeffrey Sparidaans

Quarter-Finals

• Jose de Sousa 6-5 Martin Schindler
• Ian White 6-4 Damon Heta
• Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-4 Josh Rock
• Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-2 Martijn Kleermaker

Semi-Finals

• Jose de Sousa 7-2 Ian White
• Dirk van Duijvenbode 7-6 Dimitri Van den Bergh

Final

• Dirk van Duijvenbode 8-3 Jose de Sousa

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