Players Championship Finals Round-up | Littler and Rock average over 107 in statement victories while Bunting and van Veen suffer damaging defeats

Luke Littler was at his best against Ross Smith, averaging over 107 in a fantastic 6-3 win to progress into round-three of the Players Championship Finals.

The world number one raced out of the blocks into a 3-0 lead. One of these legs was culminated on the bull for a 121 checkout and 12-darter. Smudger got a leg on the board before putting the game back on throw with a phenomenal 157 checkout. Littler broke back to take command.

By this stage, Littler was averaging over 121 in an absurd performance. Smith was also playing very well but was just hanging on to the world champion. While the quality tailed off near the end, Littler was able to keep his nose in front and survived multiple darts from Smith, including a bull for a 167 checkout, ahead of sealing what is another statement win as he looks to tick off another major event.

From the number one in the world to the number one seed in Minehead: Gerwyn Price had no problems in defeating Sebastian Bialecki 6-1. The Pole had won his maiden PDC title on the Pro Tour this year in the process to qualifying for this event and started well against the former world champion. He found two 180’s and took the first leg but would not have anymore joy in this match.

Price would break back straight away as he quickly found his range on tops. When 4-1 ahead, Bialecki though he had an opening to get himself back into the match. However, the Welshman found stunning bullseye to edge further away. He then wrapped up the match by taking out 78 in two to complete a solid display.

Stephen Bunting and Daryl Gurney both met after a poor Grand Slam of Darts campaign. It would be Gurney to prevail in this tie, downing The Bullet 6-4. The pair were closely contested until a superb 120 checkout from Gurney pushed him ahead. Bunting instantly levelled with a clinical 100 outshot before wiring double 18 for a 110 checkout. Gurney pinned that target to break once more before missing it three times to move one away. Thanks to more doubling woes from the world number four, Gurney was afforded time to clean up legs and subsequently got over the line.

James Wade proved too strong for Peter Wright, coming out on top 6-4. It was not a cracking game of darts, with just a solitary break in the first leg, splitting the pair. The highlight was a 104 outshot from The Machine to go 4-2 ahead. Holds of throws carried him to victory. It was less close in the next match, when Nathan Aspinall cruised to a 6-0 victory over Richard Veenstra, the first whitewash of this year’s event. The Asp missed a number of doubles throughout the match but was never really troubled by Flyers.

Krzysztof Ratajski came in clutch at the end of his matchup against Gian van Veen, pinning crucial doubles to come out on top 6-5. It had seemed that his resistance was broken by the European Champion. However, two missed match darts gave him a chance. He found treble 20 for an unorthodox double seven which he pinned. He followed this up with a dart finding the double 16 bed to confirm a huge win for the Polish Eagle.

Josh Rock produced an outstanding six legs of darts to blow away Scott Williams in a 6-0 thrashing. The Northern Irishman took out 107, 148, 100 and 123 checkouts throughout, barely giving Shaggy a chance. He completed a rampant display with a dart straight in tops for a 13-darter. Danny Noppert climaxed the main stage action with yet another authoritative performance, this time a 6-1 win over Madars Razma. The highlight was a 112 checkout from The Freeze who never looked under threat on the oche.

Gary Anderson’s tie against Ricardo Pietreczko went all the way to a last-leg decider. Despite taking an early lead, the Flying Scotsman dreams came crashing down after five missed match darts left the door ajar for Pikachu to take out 116 on double 18 to send the two-time world champion packing in a 6-5 triumph.

That was not the only last-leg decider seen on that stage. 2021 Ryan Searle snuck past Callan Rydz 6-5 while Justin Hood missed match darts on the way to a 6-5 defeat to Andrew Gilding.

It was much simpler for James Hurrell, who made light work of the inform Luke Woodhouse in a 6-1 trouncing, while Adam Lipscombe was a comfortable 6-2 winner against the deadly Bradley Brooks. Jermaine Wattimena produced the performance of the day after averaging almost 109 in a 6-2 triumph over Ryan Joyce. Martin Schindler edged past Nick Kelly 6-4 while Chris Dobey disposed of the talented Cam Crabtree. The former Masters champion missed match darts to win 6-1, before Shazam won four legs on send it the distance. He then missed two match darts before Dobey took out 94 in three to sneak through.