Jonny Clayton wins his first European Tour title at the Austrian Darts Open

By Sporting Life

Darts

Sat October 09, 2021 · 3y ago

Jonny Clayton won his maiden European Tour title as he defeated fellow Welshman Gerwyn Price 8-5 at the Austrian Darts Open.

The 2017 Players Championship Finals runner-up ends his wait for Euro glory just six months after claiming his first PDC crown in October, as he continues to make his mark at the highest level.

Clayton also held his nerve to see off home favourite Mensur Suljovic 7-6 in a gripping semi-final at the Steiermarkhalle in Graz while Price beat Joe Cullen by the same scoreline in the other last-four showdown.

The Ferret, who averaged almost 97 in the final and hit five 180s, won the last four legs to shake off Price while he pinned eight of his 18 attempts at doubles.

Clayton follows last weekend's German Darts Open winner Max Hopp in joining the PDC European Tour roll of honour, in a success which could be significant for his career.

He is now set to partner Price in the Betway World Cup of Darts, and is also in line to qualify for the BetVictor World Matchplay, Unibet World Grand Prix and Unibet European Championship.

He said: "It's my first [European Tour] title and I'm chuffed to bits. It's been a great weekend for me.

"It's been a brilliant crowd - I had to play against them all against Mensur but I got through it. It's nice to see Welsh darts back on stage. There are some brilliant players and we're all there to do a job."

With the £25,000 moving Clayton further ahead of Jamie Lewis in the race to partner Price in the World Cup, the Pontyberem ace added: "It's something I would really like to do so this is a big step towards that."

Price's run to the final continued his resurgence since his elimination from the Unibet Premier League recently, as he enjoyed his best-ever finish on the European Tour.

Overcame Wayne Jones in Sunday afternoon's third round before hitting six doubles from seven attempts in a superb 6-3 quarter-final defeat of world champion Rob Cross.

Price then edged out Joe Cullen 7-6 in a tight semi-final, but was unable to complete his bid for a third ranking title.

"I'm thrilled for Jonny, it's brilliant for him," said Price. "Winning's always good but I just wanted to perform well.

"I think this weekend I performed well in patches, not all the way through, but I'll take a lot of positives out of this weekend. I'm looking forward to what the up and coming weeks are going to bring."

Cullen defeated former European Tour event winners Mervyn King and Michael Smith on Sunday as he won through to his first semi-final of the year.

Suljovic, meanwhile, was unable to give the 2,000-strong sell-out crowd in Graz their dream of a home winner, seeing off Cristo Reyes and Daryl Gurney in style before missing out to Clayton.

Premier League stars Smith, Cross and Gurney were joined in the last eight by White, who went down 6-4 to Clayton as the Welshman charged to his second ranking title.