Dave Chisnall beats Daryl Gurney to win Players Championship Seven
Saturday 16 March 2019 20:04, UK
Dave Chisnall claimed his second Players Championship title of 2019, beating Daryl Gurney in Wigan on Saturday afternoon.
Chizzy has enjoyed a strong start this year, beating Glen Durrant last month to end an 18-month wait for a PDC title, and he added another just a month late with a fine display that saw him average more than 100 in four of his seven victories.
Chisnall's day began with a 6-1 rout of Davy van Baelen, before he hit averages of 104.3, 102.7 and 108.4 to power past Ritchie Edhouse, Stephen Bunting and Rob Cross respectively to reach the quarter-finals where he overcame Vincent van der Voort 6-3 to reach the last four.
A magnificent 109.1 average saw off Mark McGeeney 7-2 in the semi-finals and while the final was less spectacular with the St Helens man throwing a shade under three figures but it was enough for an 8-6 victory over Gurney who was chasing a first floor crown since 2017.
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"I've been playing really well in practice and I knew I would take some beating today," said Chisnall who missed out on a Premier League place for the second year in succession.
"There were some great performances from me, I didn't bring my best game into the final but I took my chances at the crucial points.
"This could be a massive year for me, I believe I can win 15 or 16 titles. I'm playing well enough and I've got a great team behind me so why not?
"My goal is to be in all the big tournaments but you've got to be playing well to get in them and so far this year that's what I'm doing, now I need to keep my form going."
Superchin had earlier ended Gerwyn Price's Pro Tour dominance with a 7-2 victory in their semi-final - halting the Iceman's spectacular winning run at 20 matches following Price's Players Championship double a fortnight ago.
An enthralling final began with the pair trading breaks, Chisnall responding quickly to level at 2-2 after losing the first couple of legs.
Gurney rallied again and when Chizzy missed two darts at double Superchin took out 60 to break for another two-leg advantage at 5-3. Chisnall responded with his best darts of the final, an 11-dart break was followed by a 119 checkout on the bull to make it 5-5.
Gurney regained the lead at 6-5 but Chisnall levelled before taking out the next two legs for the title, breaking in the 13th leg after Gurney had missed seven darts at double.
It was a disappointing return to ProTour action for Gary Anderson who exited at the last 64 stage along with Raymond van Barneveld, James Wade and Adrian Lewis, while there were shock first round defeats for Peter Wright and Michael Smith.
Mark McGeeney reached his first ProTour semi-final since winning his Tour Card in January, while Ron Meulenkamp and Van der Voort made it to the last eight of a ProTour event for the first time this year.
Players Championship 7
Last 16
Ron Meulenkamp 6-4 Ross Smith
Mark McGeeney 6-3 Chris Dobey
Dave Chisnall 6-3 Rob Cross
Vincent van der Voort 6-3 Josh Payne
Gerwyn Price 6-0 Ricky Evans
Ryan Searle 6-4 Krzysztof Ratajski
Daryl Gurney 6-2 Keegan Brown
Jermaine Wattimena 6-2 Jeffrey de Zwaan
Quarter-Finals
Mark McGeeney 6-5 Ron Meulenkamp
Dave Chisnall 6-3 Vincent van der Voort
Gerwyn Price 6-4 Ryan Searle
Daryl Gurney 6-5 Jermaine Wattimena
Semi-Finals
Dave Chisnall 7-2 Mark McGeeney
Daryl Gurney 7-2 Gerwyn Price
Final
Dave Chisnall 8-6 Daryl Gurney
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