Phil Taylor wins Champions League of Darts with 11-5 win over Michael van Gerwen
Sunday 25 September 2016 22:08, UK
Phil Taylor beat Michael van Gerwen for the second time in two days to claim the inaugural Champions League of darts in Cardiff on Sunday.
Having downed the Dutchman 10-4 in Saturday's group stage match, the Power followed it up with a fifth victory of the weekend to claim the title ahead of next week's World Grand Prix in Dublin.
Taylor rolled back the years over the two days culminating in a brilliant performance to overwhelm Van Gerwen, suggesting that the quickfire shorter forms of the game may be his best route back to major titles - his last coming at the Grand Slam in 2014.
Live World Grand Prix Darts
The 16-time world champion was never troubled by world number one Van Gerwen who couldn't keep pace with an inspired Taylor, who claimed the trophy at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff.
It was Taylor who started fastest, breaking MVG in the opening leg of the match before a comfortable hold to lead 2-0.
The Power then missed three darts for a double break to allow MVG on the board at 2-1 but a second break for Taylor was just around the corner and gave him a 4-1 lead.
With MVG again looking shaky on his own throw - he had failed to win any of the seven legs on his own throw in the pair's group match on Saturday night - Taylor took every chance that came his way.
With Van Gerwen waiting on 16 to trail 4-3, the Power broke again, cleaning up 64 to reestablish a three-leg lead with a 5-2 advantage.
In the 10th leg Taylor hit seven perfect darts and while he missed the chance of a nine-darter for the second time in the day, he claimed the leg to leave the stage for the interval with a 7-3 advantage.
Taylor returned to take the next two legs before Van Gerwen won rare back-to-back legs to trail 9-5 but there was to be no comeback as The Power claimed the trophy.
A bullseye finish took Taylor within one leg of the title and a brilliant 114 finish with an outrageous double 17 put the seal on a memorable return to form for the greatest of all time.
Earlier in the night, Taylor had proved far too strong for a below par James Wade in the opening semi-final.
After the pair exchanged the opening couple of legs, Taylor reeled off seven in succession to lead 8-1 and was never in any trouble as he beat the Machine 11-3.
In the other semi-final Van Gerwen saw off world champion Gary Anderson, coming through 10-5 to set up the Taylor rematch.
The first five legs went against the throw before Anderson forced a 4-2 lead with the first hold of the match.
MVG responded with the next five legs to lead for the first time in the match, Anderson only stopping the rot to trail 7-5.
With the Flying Scotsman uncharacteristically falling short in scoring power, MVG reeled off the next four legs without being troubled to seal his place in the final where he was to come up short against an in-form Taylor.
Darts' next major gets underway next Sunday on Sky Sports when 32 of the world's best go head-to-head in one of the toughest competitions to win - the World Grand Prix is on Sky Sports 3 from 7pm on October 2.
