En route to the final, van Gerwen was involved in one of the matches of the year as he defeated Luke Humphries 11-10 in the semi-final, a match in which van Gerwen hit a nine darter. "You have to have tough battles. Luke is a very good player, he's in a good place at the moment but I'm glad I was on top of him straight away and I didn't give him too much early doors," van Gerwen recaps. "After that, I had my opportunities to hurt him and I didn't really do that but that's part of the game."
Whilst Aspinall was noticeably tiring in the final, van Gerwen still seemed full of energy in his third big match of the day. "He keeps asking me, 'Where do you get the energy from?'" Van Gerwen laughs. "I just have a good night's sleep and I'm doing something what I love to do. After my family, this is probably the most important. Winning tournaments is the most enjoyable thing. Playing in front of a crowd, performing, that's what I love to do."