Saturday 3 February 2018 11:52, UK
Michael van Gerwen won the first PDC Pro Tour title of 2018 by beating Michael Smith in Wigan on Friday.
Van Gerwen scooped the £10,000 first prize in the first of six UK Open Qualifiers for professional players to win places in March's UK Open in Minehead.
The world No 1 beat Smith, a fellow Premier League Darts star, 6-3 with a 170 checkout. He previously thrashed Daryl Gurney 6-1 and Adrian Lewis 6-3.
"I came to the hotel [from Dublin], had a sleep, and made sure I was focused and rested," Van Gerwen said. "Today it came out perfectly.
"It is nice to win days like this because it gives you a lot of confidence. Plenty of people played well against me today.
"These are very good practice for me, and there are a lot of big tournaments coming up so I need to be ready for them as well."
The 2018 Premier League heads to the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff next Thursday with coverage underway from 7pm on Sky Sports Action. 15 weeks of tungsten action will continue through to the season's conclusion with the Play-Offs on May 17 at The O2 in London.
Keep up to date with the latest darts news, previews, reports, reaction and expert analysis. Get all the latest at www.skysports.com/darts and join in the conversation @SkySportsDarts- don't forget to use #LoveTheDarts
