Dave Chisnall wins Players Championship event in Barnsley
Sunday 7 August 2016 19:57, UK
Dave Chisnall beat Steve Beaton to claim Players Championship Ten at the Barnsley Metrodome on Saturday.
The 35-year-old, who reached the semi-finals of the inaugural Shanghai Darts Masters last week and has also appeared in two European Tour finals so far in 2016, claimed his first PDC title of the year and the £10,000 winners prize with some scintillating darts.
After beating Jamie Robinson 6-2 in his opening game, he then eased past Jonathan Worsley by the same scoreline in the second round. Chisnall's first major test came from John Henderson, but the world number nine proved too strong as he reached the last 16 with a 6-5 victory.
Chisnall then put a stop to recent Challenge Tour finalist Lee Evans' impressive run with a thumping 6-0 victory, before seeing off Kyle Anderson 6-3 to reach the semi-finals.
It was there that he produced arguably his best display of the day, destroying Andrew Gilding 6-0 to set up a final with Beaton.
The 52-year-old was equally as impressive on his run to the final. After overcoming Ronny Huybrechts in his opening game 6-4, the former Lakeside Champion then defeated Shaun Griffiths by the same scoreline and followed that up with a 6-0 thumping of Christian Kist.
In the last 16 he edged past Spain's Cristo Reyes 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals, where he then put a stop to recent ProTour winner Benito van de Pas with another 6-4 victory.
Beaton then repeated the 6-4 scoreline in the semi-final against No 1 seed Kim Huybrechts - seeing off both Belgian brothers on the day before losing out to Chisnall at the final hurdle.
It was a change in fortunes for Chisnall, having lost in The Unibet Masters final in January, and two European Tour events in the Peperami Gibraltar Darts Trophy and the HappyBet European Darts Matchplay, as he scooped his 11th PDC career title.
With the BetVictor World Matchplay in Blackpool just a couple of weeks away there are some big ranking points on offer and Gilding's run to the semi-finals gives him an outside chance of qualifying for the event, the 32-player field will be confirmed after Sunday's Players Championship 11.
Gilding needs another run to the quarter-finals of Sunday's event to be in with a shot of qualifying while World Youth Champion Max Hopp also needs a run to at least the quarter-finals to give himself a chance of reaching the Winter Gardens
Rowby-John Rodriguez, who reached the last 16 with victories over Mickey Mansell, Jyhan Artut and Ron Meulenkamp, currently holds on to the last qualification spot.
Jamie Lewis, Kevin Painter and Devon Petersen all need a run to at least the semi-finals in order to have any chance of qualifying.
Mensur Suljovic and Mervyn King, meanwhile, could still break into the world's top 16 - to claim a seeding position in the World Matchplay - by winning Sunday's tournament, although both are assured of qualification via the ProTour Order of Merit
The PDC ProTour weekend concludes on Sunday with Players Championship 11, the last chance for players to affect the Order of Merit ahead of the BetVictor World Matchplay qualification cut-off, with the world's top 16 players joined by the 16 top non-qualified players from the One-Year ProTour Order of Merit.
