Simon Whitlock beats Ronny Huybrechts in UK Open qualifier
Sunday 12 February 2017 15:27, UK
Simon Whitlock won his second ranking title in a week as he defeated Ronny Huybrechts 6-3 in the final of Coral UK Open Qualifier Five.
The Belgian and Darren Webster landed nine-darters, following on from Michael van Gerwen's two in one game on Friday.
Webster was the first man to achieve perfection against Benito van de Pas, before Huybrechts repeated the trick with the first perfect leg of his career - against Webster - in the quarter-finals.
However, it was Whitlock who tasted success in a dominant display in the final to deny Huybrechts the chance of winning his first PDC title and follow up his success last Saturday with another £10,000 top prize.
In reaching the final, Whitlock edged out Michael Rasztovits in his opening game, before whitewashing Mick McGowan to reach the last 32.
There, the Australian squeezed past Brian Woods and followed that win with 6-2 victories over Scott Taylor and Mervyn King to reach the final four.
Standing in his way of the final was the in-form Rob Cross, who only joined the professional circuit this year, but Whitlock proved too tough in a 6-4 victory to set up the clash with Huybrechts.
It was a day of giant-killings for Huybrechts as he reached his second PDC ProTour final in five months. After early wins against Kevin Dowling and Matthew Edgar, he saw off two-time World Champion Gary Anderson in a narrow 6-5 victory.
Reaching the last 32, he then beat Terry Jenkins, Ian White, Darren Webster and came from behind against a resilient Michael Smith to book his spot in the final two.
Following Qualifier Six, the top 96 players from the UK Open Order of Merit progress to compete in the Coral UK Open TV Finals at the Butlins Minehead Resort from March 3-5, alongside 32 Rileys Amateur Qualifiers.
