"It was the quickest fine I've ever paid!" - Rob Cross 'guilty as charged' following lewd gesture during 2025 PDC World Darts Championship

Rob Cross got off to an excellent start at the 2025 Dutch Darts Masters, the second tournament of this year's World Series of Darts. 'Voltage' defeated Richard Veenstra 6-3 in his opening match in Den Bosch and now gets to take on Jermaine Wattimena in the quarter-finals.

Performing strongly, Cross finished the match an over 95 average. Still, the Englishman isn't completely content with current level. "It's not quite there at the minute. I've had a bit of time off, I've had a nice rest since the Worlds, but look no excuses," Cross assesses to the assembled media afterwards. "There's flashes there, but it's not like a complete performance."

Cross didn't travel to the Netherlands in the best of form, especially after a disappointing PDC World Darts Championship exit to good friend Scott Williams. "Probably my worst performance of the year. So yeah, a massive disappointment to do that," he recalls. "Just got to forget, move on and yeah, it's all about this year now."

Cross also came into disrepute during that match against Williams with after being caught by TV cameras making a lewd gesture. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t take long for Cross to get a call from the DRA. "It was the quickest fine I've ever paid!" he laughs. "Usually I leave it to last minute, but it was decent. So yeah, I'm guilty as charged."

The PDC World Darts Championship disappointment didn't stop Cross being selected for the 2025 Premier League Darts campaign though, and with next week bringing the Winmau World Masters, it's set to be a busy few weeks and months for the former world champion. "I really want to play well next week with it obviously now turning into a ranking event. If I can find a little bit of form this week, then I can do great next week too," Cross concludes.

Cross will take on Jermaine Wattimena in the quarterfinals. The winner of that duel will then take on the winner of the match between Gerwyn Price and Kevin Doets in the semifinals.