Dave Chisnall won the Players Championship 25 title with an 8-4 victory over rookie Josh Rock; Chisnall also beat world No 2 Gerwyn Price 7-6 in a closely fought semi-final on his path to the title in Barnsley
Friday 21 October 2022 17:14, UK
Dave Chisnall secured his second ranking title inside a month by winning Players Championship 25 on Thursday, seeing off rookie Josh Rock 8-4 in the decider.
The first of four Players Championship events this week saw Chisnall scoop the £12,000 title at the Barnsley Metrodome with a commanding performance in the final, wrapping up his seventh victory of the day.
He recorded averages of 103 and 107 in early wins over Simon Whitlock and Maik Kuivenhoven, before securing a whitewash win over Tony Martinez.
Chisnall continued his good form against Gary Anderson, dropping just one leg in the last-16 clash before ousting top seed Luke Humphries with a sensational 114 average in the quarter-finals.
A tough match-up followed in the semi-final against world No 2 Gerwyn Price but Chisnall proved too strong, clinching the tie 7-6 in his closest match of the day.
With six wins under his belt, Chisnall then proved too much for Northern Ireland's emerging star Rock in the decider with legs of 13, 12 and 12 darts helping Chisnall to storm into a four-leg lead.
While Rock hit back, cutting the gap from 6-1 to 6-4 at one stage with the aid of a 122 finish and legs of 14 and 13 darts, the youngster missed his chance to pull back further in a key 11th leg, before Chisnall pinned double 16 in the next to seal the title.
"Today's been a very good day for me," said Chisnall, who hit 35 maximums during the event.
"The treble 20s were going in like there was no tomorrow, I was hitting 180s for fun all day and I'm very happy. I've hit big scores, three or four crucial 140 checkouts, and it's got me through."
Chisnall is now targeting back-to-back successes on Friday as the 128-player field returns to action at the Barnsley Metrodome and the St Helens man is hoping a run of consistency will help to re-establish his status among the sport's top stars and get him one step closer to a return to the Premier League.
"My goal is to get back into the Premier League but it's just consistency," he continued.
"If you don't get that consistency, you're not going to win these tournaments.
"I've always said that to win tournaments you need luck - to be fair today I don't think I've had any luck, I've just battered the people who I played! I can win them all if I play like that."
Rock has enjoyed an impressive debut year on the PDC circuit, and Thursday saw the 21-year-old win through to his first senior final - having won five Winmau Development Tour titles already in 2022.
"Josh Rock is the future," added Chisnall. "He is so good and he'll learn from these losses.
"I played him in the beginning of the year and he beat me twice, it's two-two now. There will be a lot of rivalry between me and him I think - even though I'm 20 years older than him!"
