Peter Wright beats MVG to win German Darts Championship
Peter Wright defeated world number one Michael van Gerwen 6-3 in the final of the German Darts Championship.
The Scotsman, who recently made the most of MVG's injury-enforced absence at the UK Open to win his maiden televised crown, maintained his superb form this season as he claimed the PDC's opening European Tour event of the season - and the second of his career.
Having come from 2-0 and 3-2 down to level the scores at 3-3 in the Hildesheim final, Wright then landed a crucial blow with a superb 120 checkout to go ahead for the first time before taking two of the next three legs to triumph.
Van Gerwen was left to rue 14 missed doubles as he finished with a well below-par average of 93.29 while Wright's wasn't much better at 95.36 as both players struggled to find their best form.
But that won't matter to Snakebite, who can celebrate his first ever win over van Gerwen in a final having lost the last nine encounters when a PDC trophy was on the line - including five in 2016.
After receiving the winners' cheque of £25,000, the world number three told www.pdc.tv: "My darts room last year was full of runner-up trophies, and after Christmas I cleared it all and said I was going to fill it with winning ones - and I've got two so far!
"The fans were amazing and a lot of it was down to them. Michael didn't play like he can. He started off fantastically but I tried to stay with him."
Although the world number three had lost 18 of their previous 19 encounters heading into this clash, he has now beaten van Gerwen twice in 2017 as he bids to challenge the Dutchman's dominance on a consistant basis.
Earlier in the day, Wright had claimed comfortable wins over Stephen Bunting and Kim Huybrechts before surviving a real scare to defeat Gerwyn Price 6-5 in the semi-finals.
Price had a match dart in the deciding leg to gain revenge for his UK Open final defeat at the hands of Wright but he missed double top and watched his opponent capitalise by taking out 52.
Van Gerwen followed up his 6-3 victories over Cristo Reyes and Ian White with a thumping 6-1 triumph over Jelle Klaasen in which he averaged 104-61 but he couldn't repeat that form when it really mattered.
He ended the tournament with the highest overall average of 100.98 although Wright hit the most 180s across the weekend with 16.
The £135,000 event was one of very few which van Gerwen failed to win in 2016 - a year which saw him scoop 25 tournaments before lifting his second world title in January - and he'll now turn his focus back to retaining his lead at the top of the Premier League standings before the next European Tour event in Jena on April 15-17.
Van Gerwen takes home £10,000 as runner-up but said: "I only can be happy with winning the tournament, and I can only blame myself. Peter played well, but I missed doubles and if you miss doubles you need to handle that."
German Darts Championship 2017: Daily Results
Friday March 24
First Round
Afternoon Session (12pm-4pm UK time)
Richie Corner 6-2 Kirk Shepherd
Ryan Meikle 4-6 Paul Harvey
David Pallett 6-1 Veijo Viinikka
John Bowles 6-2 Stefan Stoyke
Ryan De Vreede 2-6 Krzysztof Ratajski
John Michael 2-6 Mick McGowan
Diogo Portela 6-3 Martin Schindler
Michael Plooy 5-6 Christian Kist
Evening Session (6pm-10pm UK time)
Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-4 Adam Hunt
Jan Dekker 6-5 Chris Quantock
Paul Nicholson 6-2 Ryan Searle
Mervyn King 6-5 Michael Rasztovits
Darren Johnson 6-1 Robert Allenstein
Jamie Bain 6-5 Chris Dobey
Jermaine Wattimena 6-1 Bernd Roith
Kevin Painter 6-5 Stephen Burton
Saturday March 25
Second Round
Afternoon Session (12pm-4pm UK time)
Gerwyn Price 6-1 Krzysztof Ratajski
Ian White 6-5 John Bowles
Jelle Klaasen 6-1 Mick McGowan
Michael Smith 1-6 Jan Dekker
Cristo Reyes 6-2 Paul Nicholson
Kim Huybrechts 6-1 Diogo Portela
Stephen Bunting 6-4 David Pallett
Alan Norris 6-4 Richie Corner
Evening Session (6pm-10pm UK time)
James Wade 5-6 Darren Johnson
Dave Chisnall 6-0 Dimitri Van den Bergh
Benito van de Pas 6-4 Paul Harvey
Peter Wright 6-5 Christian Kist
Michael van Gerwen 6-1 Jermaine Wattimena
Mensur Suljovic 6-3 Mervyn King
Simon Whitlock 2-6 Kevin Painter
Joe Cullen 6-2 Jamie Bain
Sunday March 26
Third Round
Afternoon Session (12pm-4pm UK time)
Michael van Gerwen 6-3 Cristo Reyes
Ian White 6-2 Darren Johnson
Dave Chisnall 3-6 Jelle Klaasen
Benito van de Pas 6-0 Jan Dekker
Peter Wright 6-2 Stephen Bunting
Alan Norris 4-6 Kim Huybrechts
Gerwyn Price 6-4 Kevin Painter
Mensur Suljovic 6-2 Joe Cullen
Evening Session (6pm-10pm UK time)
Quarter-Finals
Micheal van Gerwen 6-3 Ian White
Jelle Klaasen 6-4 Benito Van de Pas
Peter Wright 6-2 Kim Huybrechts
Gerwyn Price 6-2 Mensur Suljovic
Semi-finals
Michael van Gerwen 6-1 Jelle Klaasen
Peter Wright 6-5 Gerwyn Price
Final
Peter Wright 6-3 Michael van Gerwen
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