Rob Cross fought back from 5-2 down to newly-crowned World Matchplay champion Nathan Aspinall to triumph 8-7; the 2018 world champion overcame defending-champion Gerwyn Price in the semi-final stage, beating the Welshman for the first time since October 2019
Saturday 5 August 2023 14:41, UK
Rob Cross fought back superbly to defeat newly-crowned World Matchplay champion Nathan Aspinall 8-7 in the New Zealand Darts Masters final in Hamilton on Saturday.
Cross also overcame defending-champion Gerwyn Price on his way to clinching his second World Series of Darts title, which ends his two-year wait for a televised crown.
The 2018 world champion was forced to recover from 5-2 down to stun Aspinall in an enthralling final at the GLOBOX Arena, denying the Stockport star back-to-back televised titles.
Cross reeled off four of the next five legs to cut the gap to 5-6, and he then levelled things up at six apiece with a crucial 64 outshot, after Aspinall missed one dart at tops for a 7-5 lead.
The pendulum swung once again as Aspinall broke to move a leg away from victory, but Cross wasn't to be denied, following up a 14-dart skin-saver with an 88 combination in the decider to complete the comeback.
"To win this title is absolutely amazing," reflected Cross. "At the moment, every chance you give Nathan he normally takes, but he let me off a little bit later in the game, after I missed some opportunities early on.
"The standard is so high, so when you can win [a title] when you've not been at your best, it speaks volumes about where my game is."
Earlier in the night, Cross came through another last-leg decider in his quarter-final clash against newcomer Jonny Tata, who dumped out two-time world champion Peter Wright in Friday's first round.
The 32-year-old then ended Price's unbeaten record in New Zealand, converting three ton-plus checkouts to celebrate a superb 7-3 success against the top seed, his first victory over the Welshman since October 2019.
Aspinall, meanwhile, eased through to the last four with a 6-1 rout of Haupai Puha, who was unable to emulate the performance that saw him dispatch Dimitri Van den Bergh in Friday's first round.
The world No 5 - less than a fortnight since his World Matchplay heroics - then produced his highest televised average of 110.22 in an extraordinary 7-3 semi-final victory over reigning world champion Michael Smith, who crashed out despite averaging 107.
