Darts results: Jose De Sousa wins Players Championship 28 title in Dublin

By Sporting Life

Darts

Mon October 07, 2019 · 5y ago

Jose De Sousa claimed a second PDC title inside a month at Players Championship 28 in Dublin on Saturday, beating Glen Durrant 8-6 in the final.

De Sousa produced a string of impressive displays to reach his third ProTour final of the year and claim the £10,000 top prize.

The final was a close encounter but a crucial break of throw in the penultimate leg gave the Portuguese the chance to throw for the match, one he took to down his English opponent.

"This final was a moment of magic for me, a great moment," said a delighted De Sousa.

"If I play my best game I can beat almost anyone. I practice so hard, every day and I want to make a big future for myself.

"I didn’t think this was possible, I could not imagine this."

The 45-year-old, who earned a PDC Tour Card for the first time in January, showed his class and his mettle on a big day for Portuguese darts.

"This is my first year in the PDC, all I wanted was experience but this has been amazing," he added.

"I will continue my work and in the future we will see what happens."

A 98 average in a 6-2 win against Mark Dudbridge opened the day for De Sousa, before a remarkable 6-1 success, with an average of almost 108, saw the winner of Player Championship 23 move safely in to the last 32.

A hard fought 6-4 victory against Mark Webster and then a 6-2 win over Spaniard Jesus Noguera saw De Sousa move in to the quarter-finals where another 100-plus average followed, this time in a 6-3 win over a resurgent Kim Huybrechts.

De Sousa then faced Mensur Suljovic, who earlier in the day had produced the perfect nine-dart leg in his victory over Adam Hunt.

Suljovic could not compete with his opponent in the semi-finals though as De Sousa powered through to the final, where he was embroiled in a real scrap with Durrant.

The pair traded breaks of throw in the middle of the match before Durrant eventually levelled at 6-6.

With the game looking set to go all the way to a deciding leg, De Sousa produced the all important break of throw to move within a leg of the title, before eventually pinning double ten to complete a dream day.

Durrant, who was playing in his fourth PDC final since his move over from the BDO, had another successful day with notable wins against Ian White and a semi-final victory against Friday’s champion Gerwyn Price.

The final two Players Championship events of 2019 will take place on October 14-15 where the field for the Players Championship finals will be confirmed.