Wes Newton hit back from 3-0 down to defeat Paul Nicholson 6-4 in Sunday's Players Championship final in Crawley.
Nicholson comes up short in second final of the weekend
Wes Newton hit back from 3-0 down to defeat Paul Nicholson 6-4 in Sunday's Players Championship final, denying the Geordie a PDC ProTour double in Crawley.
Nicholson had claimed his first victory in almost 14 months by winning Saturday's £35,000 tournament at the K2 Centre, and battled through to a second final 24 hours later.
He looked on course to claim a second £6,000 first prize by taking a 3-0 lead, before Newton took six of the next seven legs for his first win of 2011.
Fleetwood's Newton had enjoyed some brilliant wins earlier in the day, notably overcoming Andy Smith, Vincent van der Voort and World Championship runner-up Gary Anderson in the latter stages with outstanding displays - missing double 12 for a nine-darter against the Scot.
Nicholson, though, punished a slow start in the final with two 14-dart breaks of throw in the opening three legs, also landing double ten in leading 3-0.
He was also waiting on a finish in the fourth as Newton finished 64 to get off the mark and then checked out 97 to pull back to 3-2.
Newton then broke again to level in the sixth, following a 180 with double 12 after Nicholson missed two darts at doubles, and the Lancastrian hit two 140s and a 180 in winning leg seven in 15 darts to lead for the first time.
Nicholson hit a brilliant 13-darter to level in the eighth and opened the next with a 180, but Newton posted double 16 to edge back ahead and then sealed victory with a 13-darter, finished on double top.
Delighted
"I'm delighted," said Newton. "Paul started the final brilliantly but I hung in there and clawed my way back into the game.
"It's fantastic to win and now that I'm in the top ten I want to keep pushing up the Order of Merit."
Nicholson, who claimed £3,000 as runner-up and £9,000 for the weekend in Crawley, came from 2-0 down to win his semi-final with Justin Pipe 6-4, and also defeated Mark Walsh, Robert Thornton and Roland Scholten in the latter stages.
The prize money nudges Nicholson closer to a return to the world's top 16, and also strengthens his challenge for a qualifying place in the World Matchplay, World Grand Prix and European Championship later this year.
World number three Anderson reached his second ProTour semi-final of the month before losing to Newton, having come from 3-0 down in the quarters to see off Wayne Jones.
Van der Voort, Walsh and Peter Wright joined Jones in reaching the quarter-finals, while Dutch youngster Mareno Michels won through to the last 16 alongside World Champion Adrian Lewis.
