Gary Anderson wins UK Open Qualifier in Wigan
Friday 9 February 2018 22:36, UK
Gary Anderson underlined his return to fitness with victory at Friday's UK Open Qualifier Four in Wigan.
The Scot has been struggling with a back injury since the World Championship and missed all three qualifiers last week but he returned to winning ways on Thursday with a 7-3 victory over Gerwyn Price in the Premier League and followed that up by taking to the oche at the Robin Park Tennis Centre.
The two-time world champion came through with flying colours to beat Jeffrey de Zwaan who enjoyed an impressive run to the final just a few weeks after securing his place on the Tour via Q-School.
De Zwann came through rounds two and three with narrow 6-5 victories before a notable 6-3 win over world no 4 Daryl Gurney.
Another 6-5 win saw him account for Steve Beaton in the last 16 and he followed that up with victory over World Championship semi-finalist Jamie Lewis to secure a place in the semi-final where he beat Jason Lowe, who chalked up victory over Adrian Lewis in the last eight.
Lowe will make his debut at the UK Open next month after reaching his first ProTour semi-final on Friday, matching his recent run to the last four on the PDC Unicorn Challenge Tour.
Anderson saw off Tytus Kanik, Martin Schindler, Richie Corner, Steve West on his way to the quarter-finals where he beat James Wade 6-4 and he followed that with a 6-5 victory over world champion Rob Cross who put early season struggles behind him with his best run since Alexandra Palace.
However, Cross, who beat Dimitri van den Bergh 6-5 in a match that had echoes of their Ally Pally epic, missed darts for a place in the final and allowed Anderson to nip in and seal a meeting with De Zwaan - Voltage's run enough to secure his spot at Minehead.
Live Premier League Darts
In the end Anderson proved too strong for the Dutchman in the final, running out a 6-2 winner in the final to pick up his 41st PDC title, the £10,000 winners cheque and secure an automatic spot at the UK Open in Minehead in March
"It's been good today," said Anderson after the final. "I can't believe it - I said I was just going to see how I got on this weekend and I'm struggling now!
"I couldn't have imagined this at the start of the week but it's great. The darts that I played with last night I played with for my first two games today, and then I changed back to my old darts and I played okay."
The action continues over the weekend with Qualifiers Five and Six rounding off the weekend on the Pro Tour.
Premier League Darts continues next Thursday when the party rolls into Newcastle - coverage from the Metro Radio Arena begins at 7pm on Sky Sports Action
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
