European Darts Open: Peter Wright wins his ninth PDC title of 2017 after beating Mervyn King in the final

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Snakebite’s latest triumph means he’s now edged ahead of Michael van Gerwen for the number of individual events won this season although the Dutchman did also lift the World Cup of Darts trophy alongside Raymond van Barneveld.

The UK Open champion, who had brushed aside Robbie Green 6-1 in his opening match on Saturday, battled past Stephen Bunting 6-3 during Sunday afternoon's third round session before crushing Dave Chisnall 6-1 in the quarter-finals despite averaging 96.

He then trailed third seed Mensur Suljovic 3-1 before winning five legs on the trot to storm into the final, where he averaged over 103 and hit six of his nine attempts at doubles to clinch his fourth European Tour crown of the campaign and the top prize of £25,000.

Van Gerwen’s title defence at the Ostermann Arena was ended during the third round when he was stunned 6-2 by Rob Cross in a superb match which saw both players average over 102.

Cross, who has won two Players Championship events this year, was hoping to kick on and claim his maiden European Tour title but he was unable to reproduce the same standard during a 6-2 defeat to the eventual runner-up in the quarter-finals.

King then overcame this season's Gibraltar Darts Trophy champion Michael Smith 6-4 as he became the first unseeded player to reach a European Tour final for almost 18 months. 

But his hopes of landing his first PDC event since winning the 2014 European Darts Grand Prix were thwarted by a sublime performance from the world number three.

Wright took out 136 to break throw in the first leg with a 12-darter before doing so again in the third with a 13-darter to go 2-1 up before winning three more on the trot. 

King did pull one back with a 13-darter but Wright finished the match off in style with a 101 checkout.

He told the PDC's official website: "Mervyn had beaten everyone in the other half and I had to play my best in the final, and luckily enough I played my best game of the weekend.

"The crowd got me hyped up and really focused and my adrenaline was crazy, and the 136 in the first leg was a great start.

"Mervyn has worked really hard to come back to where he is now and he's had loads of semi-finals and finals in the floor tournaments this year, and he's coming back.

"I learned from my mistakes and transferred that into wins, and it's paying off. I want to win everything and it's a great way to set myself up for the World Series events coming up in Shanghai and Las Vegas." 

King, who collects £10,000, said: "I've done really well and I'm very proud of what I've done after having to qualify for this event. I've failed at the last hurdle but what a hurdle to fail at. 

"I've known Peter for 20 years and he played some fantastic darts all day. I couldn't answer that tonight and he was a worthy winner." 

European Darts Open: Tournament Results

All games best of 11 legs

Friday June 30
First Round
Afternoon Session (12pm-4pm BST)
Mark Walsh 6-2 Nathan Aspinall
James Richardson 6-2 Mark Webster
John Henderson 6-2 Ray Campbell
Krzysztof Ratajski 6-1 Mark Barilli
Steffen Siepmann 6-5 Jermaine Wattimena
Aden Kirk 6-5 Michael Plooy
Robbie Green 6-5 Martin Schindler
Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-0 Matt Clark

Evening Session
Justin Pipe 1-6 James Wade
Jerry Hendriks 6-4 Christian Bunse
Zoran Lerchbacher 2-6 Christian Kist
Kyle Anderson 3-6 Peter Jacques
Mervyn King 6-3 Kim Viljanen
Vincent van der Voort 6-2 Cristo Reyes
Robert Allenstein 6-3 Dragutin Horvat
Richard North 5-6 Devon Petersen
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Saturday July 1
Second Round
Afternoon Session
Daryl Gurney 6-5 Jerry Hendriks
Gerwyn Price 6-4 Mark Walsh
Alan Norris 6-2 Aden Kirk
Joe Cullen 6-2 Krzysztof Ratajski
Benito van de Pas 5-6 James Richardson
Kim Huybrechts 4-6 John Henderson
Simon Whitlock 5-6 Dimitri Van den Bergh
Stephen Bunting 6-4 Steffen Siepmann

Evening Session
Dave Chisnall 6-2 James Wade
Michael Smith 6-3 Peter Jacques
Ian White 2-6 Mervyn King
Mensur Suljovic 6-4 Christian Kist
Peter Wright 6-1 Robbie Green
Michael van Gerwen 6-0 Vincent van der Voort
Jelle Klaasen 4-6 Devon Petersen
Rob Cross 6-0 Robert Allenstein
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Sunday July 2
Afternoon Session
Third round
Mensur Suljovic w/o Joe Cullen
John Henderson 6-5 Alan Norris
James Richardson 3-6 Dave Chisnall
Peter Wright 6-3 Stephen Bunting
Dimitri van den Bergh 3-6 Gerwyn Price
Michael Smith 6-3 Daryl Gurney
Devon Petersen 3-6 Mervyn King
Michael van Gerwen 2-6 Rob Cross

Evening Session
Quarter-Finals
Mensur Suljovic 6-2 John Henderson
Dave Chisnall 1-6 Peter Wright
Gerwyn Price 4-6 Michael Smith
Mervyn King 6-2 Rob Cross

Semi-Finals
Mensur Suljovic 3-6 Peter Wright
Michael Smith 4-6 Mervyn King

 Final
Peter Wright 6-2 Mervyn King