Van Gerwen ends long wait for 2021 ranking title

Michael van Gerwen ended a wait of almost a year for a PDC ranking title, beating Nathan Aspinall 8-5 in the final of Players Championship 29 in Barnsley on Wednesday.

Van Gerwen picked up the Nordic Darts Masters in September – an unranked World Series event – but his last ranking event title was the Players Championship Finals at the end of November last year.

He has lost in two Players Championship event finals this year as well as the European Championship final against Rob Cross a couple of weeks ago but he proved too strong for the rest of the field on Wednesday to end his barren spell a few weeks short of a year.

Van Gerwen started with a pair of routine victories over Boris Krcmar and Peter Hudson before his first three-figure average accounted for Andy Boulton, and he followed that up by edging out Brendan Dolan in a last-leg shoot-out.

The world No 3 then produced his best performance to average 107 and dispatch Krzszytof Ratajski 6-2 and followed up with a 7-3 semi-final win over Australia’s Damon Heta.

Aspinall, also without a title this year, had dazzled on route to his first final of the season, averaged more than 100 in three of his six matches to reach a showdown with Van Gerwen.

The Asp beat Carl Wilkinson and Sean Fisher before ending the hopes of the Bronzed Adonis Steve Beaton. High profiles wins over Grand Slam champion Jose De Sousa and Tuesday’s beaten finalist followed before 7-4 semi-final win over William O’Connor.

And it was Aspinall who started fast, forging an early 3-1 advantage before Van Gerwen turned the tide with a superb 11-dart leg. It kept the three-time world champion in touching distance and added two more legs to open up a 4-3 lead.

The pair shared the next two legs to leave Van Gerwen three away from the finish line before another decisive break gave him a 6-4 advantage.

Aspinall managed just one more leg as Van Gerwen powered to the finish line in a match which saw both men average 102 but rather than finish on the losing side of a high-class contest, Van Gerwen emerged victorious.

The final event of the Pro Tour will take place on Thursday with places at the Players Championship Finals up for grabs – the top 64 players for the 2021 Pro Tour Order of Merit will head to Minehead in a couple of weeks, while also on the line for many is their status as Tour Card holders.

On Friday those players not already qualified for the Grand Slam of Darts will enter the Tour Card Holders Qualifier with eight places at the Grand Slam available.

Players Championship 29

Last 16

Jelle Klaasen 6-2 Michael Smith

Damon Heta 6-3 Florian Hempel

Krzysztof Ratajski 6-0 Jason Heaver

Michael van Gerwen 6-5 Brendan Dolan

Nathan Aspinall 6-3 Jose De Sousa

Ryan Searle 6-4 Martin Lukeman

Kim Huybrechts 6-2 Martin Thomas

William O’Connor 6-5 Jonny Clayton

Quarter-Finals

Damon Heta 6-0 Jelle Klaasen

Michael van Gerwen 6-2 Krzysztof Ratajski

Nathan Aspinall 6-4 Ryan Searle

William O’Connor 6-3 Kim Huybrechts

Semi-Finals

Michael van Gerwen 7-3 Damon Heta

Nathan Aspinall 7-4 William O’Connor

Final

Michael van Gerwen 8-5 Nathan Aspinall

Darts is back on your Sky Sports screens later this month with all nine days from the Grand Slam of Darts in Wolverhampton – coverage gets underway with a bumper double session on Saturday November 13, joins us from 1pm on Sky Sports Arena