Results Day One - PDC Winter Series: Smith takes opening day title with victory over Wattimena (Live Blog closed)

The 19th Players Championship event of the season will be played during the first day of the PDC Winter Series. All results can be followed in our live blog.

The PDC Winter Series consists of five Players Championship tournaments from November 10-14. All results during this five-day event count towards the PDC Winter Series Order of Merit.

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Prize Money breakdown for PDC Winter Series with £375,000 on offer

Update 20:00 - Smith takes opening day title with victory over Wattimena

Michael Smith is the winner on the opening day of the PDC Winter Series defeating Jermaine Wattimena in the final. Read about it below.

Thanks for joining us for the opener in Coventry, back at 2pm tomorrow!

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Smith claims victory on Day One in PDC Winter Series with final win over Wattimena dartsnews.com/pdc/smith-clai…

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Update 19:25 - Wattimena hits 112 average in superb win over Dolan, will face Smith in final

The final is confirmed on the opening day of the PDC Winter Series with Jermaine Wattimena who will look for his first PDC ranking title set to face Michael Smith.

Wattimena produced a sensational display to defeat Brendan Dolan. 'Machine Gun' lived up to his moniker with a rapid fire performance which saw him averaging upwards of 120 for most of the tie.

This included multiple 12-darters in a row and an 11-darter and was capped off with a 130 checkout to claim the 7-3 win with a 112.2 average.

While for Smith, it wasn't as straight forward for the St Helens ace as he edged past Jose de Sousa in a 7-5 victory. He hit a 98.3 average but had to survive a comeback from 6-4 up against 'The Special One'.

As the latter missed a chance at a 41 in the penultimate leg, Smith cleaned up pinning double 20 with the relief etched on his face.

Semi-Finals

Jermaine Wattimena (112.2) 7 | 3 (96.8) Brendan Dolan

Jose de Sousa (96.1) 5 | 7 (98.3) Michael Smith

Final

Jermaine Wattimena - | - Michael Smith

Update 18:45 - Delightful De Sousa dispels Wright, set for semi-final clash with Smith

The semi-final line-up at Players Championship 19 in the first day of the Winter Series has been confirmed with Jose de Sousa set to face Michael Smith in a quality clash.

This is after De Sousa defeated Peter Wright in a superb win for the 'Special One' who hit a 107.6 average in a 6-3 win over the World Champion.

He will now aim for a first Players Championship title of the year after claiming a European Tour triumph for the first time and it is 'Bully Boy' who awaits him.

Smith hasn't had much luck on the Players Championship series this year with early exits mostly to Boris Krcmar being the route but now he got past him early on, he has played well all day.

A 90 average saw him over the line 6-2 against Conan 'The Barbarian' Whitehead who has had another good run.

In the other half, it is another good day for Brendan Dolan. 'The History Maker' returned to form and the winners' circle with two titles on the ProTour last year and he will aim to do the same again.

He breezed past Damon Heta 6-0 with a 101 average but will now play 'Machine Gun' Jermaine Wattimena who produced a 104 average in defeating his compatriot Vincent van der Voort. Who will take glory in Coventry?

Quarter-Finals

Jermaine Wattimena (104.5) 6 | 3 (95.6) Vincent van der Voort

Brendan Dolan (101.3) 6 | 0 (93.4) Damon Heta

Peter Wright (100.8) 3 | 6 (107.6) Jose De Sousa

Michael Smith (90.4) 6 | 2 (79.2) Conan Whitehead

Semi-Finals

Jermaine Wattimena - | - Brendan Dolan

Jose de Sousa - | - Michael Smith

Update 18:15 - Wright v De Sousa and Dolan v Heta among Quarter-Finals

The Quarter-Final line-up has been confirmed on the opening day of the PDC Winter Series with Peter Wright v Jose de Sousa and Brendan Dolan against Damon Heta among the ties.

Wright averaged 104 as he saw off Dimitri van den Bergh in a 6-4 victory. He will now take on 'The Special One' who defeated Danny Noppert 6-3.

Damon Heta won his maiden PDC title on the last lot of PDC ProTours and he will aim for another one as a tie with Brendan Dolan awaits who cruised past Toni Alcinas 6-1.

There is also an all Dutch encounter as Vincent van der Voort ended a superb debut for Jim Williams with a 6-5 win while Jermaine Wattimena eased past Simon Stevenson. There is also the matter of Michael Smith against Conan Whitehead.

Last 16

Vincent van der Voort 6 | 5 Jim Williams

Jermaine Wattimena 6 | 1 Simon Stevenson

Brendan Dolan 6 | 1 Toni Alcinas

Damon Heta 6 | 1 Ron Meulenkamp

Peter Wright 6 | 4 Dimitri Van den Bergh

Jose De Sousa 6 | 3 Danny Noppert

Conan Whitehead 6 | 2 William Borland

Michael Smith 6 | 4 Joe Cullen

Quarter-Finals

Vincent van der Voort - | - Jermaine Wattimena

Brendan Dolan - | - Damon Heta

Peter Wright - | - Jose de Sousa

Conan Whitehead - | - Michael Smith

Update 17:40 - Wright, Smith and De Sousa among players through to Last 16

The Last 16 line-up has been confirmed on the opening day of the PDC Winter Series with the likes of Peter Wright, Jose de Sousa and Michael Smith all still involved in Coventry.

Wright continues to show his status as potentially the player to beat today with a 6-2 victory over Adam Hunt with a 106.8 average. A tie against Dimitri van den Bergh awaits 'Snakebite'.

De Sousa averaged 100 and defied a 104 average from Andy Boulton to win through 6-3. While Smith hit 105.8 in easing past Ryan Murray 6-2.

There were also impressive wins for Damon Heta who averaged 104 in seeing off Krzysztof Ratajski 6-5, Toni Alcinas with a surprise 103 average in defeating James Wade 6-2 and Jermaine Wattimena hitting 102 in a 6-5 win over Luke Humphries.

While Jim Williams continued an impressive ProTour debut with a 6-2 win against Gabriel Clemens, a tie against Vincent van der Voort awaits with the winner taking on Simon Stevenson/Jermaine Wattimena, a big chance could await the Welshman.

Last 32

Vincent van der Voort 6 | 0 Martin Schindler

Jim Williams 6 | 2 Gabriel Clemens

Simon Stevenson 6 | 4 Scott Waites

Jermaine Wattimena 6 | 5 Luke Humphries

Toni Alcinas 6 | 2 James Wade

Brendan Dolan 6 | 2 Rob Cross

Krzysztof Ratajski 5 | 6 Damon Heta

Ron Meulenkamp 6 | 5 Jonny Clayton

Peter Wright 6 | 2 Adam Hunt

Dimitri Van den Bergh 6 | 1 Gavin Carlin

Jose De Sousa 6 | 3 Andy Boulton

Danny Noppert 6 | 4 Dirk van Duijvenbode

William Borland 6 | 5 Scott Taylor

Conan Whitehead 6 | 5 Keane Barry

Joe Cullen 6 | 5 James Wilson

Michael Smith 6 | 2 Ryan Murray

Last 16

Vincent van der Voort - | - Jim Williams

Simon Stevenson - | - Jermaine Wattimena

Toni Alcinas - | - Brendan Dolan

Damon Heta - | - Ron Meulenkamp

Peter Wright - | - Dimitri Van den Bergh

Jose De Sousa - | - Danny Noppert

William Borland - | - Conan Whitehead

Joe Cullen - | - Michael Smith

Update 17:00 - Van den Bergh, Waites and Clayton hit incredible averages as second round concludes

The second round is all but complete on the opening day of the PDC Winter Series and despite it being the first day back on the ProTour, the insane standard is already on show.

In particular from the World Matchplay champion, Dimitri van den Bergh who smashed in a 111 average to defeat Daryl Gurney 6-1.

There has also been brilliance from Scott Waites who saw off the in-form Devon Petersen 6-2 with a 106.7 average. Jonny Clayton went even higher with the World Cup of Darts champion defeating Derk Telnekes 6-1 with a 108 average.

Brendan Dolan is also in on the act with a 104.5 average in seeing off Kirk Shepherd 6-1. In terms of those also out alongside Gerwyn Price (below), Nathan Aspinall was defeated 6-3 by Scott Taylor only averaging 80.

But for Peter Wright, he is still in contention with a 6-1 win over Niels Zonneveld and will be one of the favourites to top the Winter Series Order of Merit at the end of today.

Last 64

Martin Schindler 6 | 2 Gerwyn Price

Vincent van der Voort 6 | 3 Alan Tabern

Gabriel Clemens 6 | 5 Kevin Doets

Jim Williams 6 | 4 Steve Beaton

Scott Waites 6 | 2 Devon Petersen

Simon Stevenson 6 | 5 Mickey Mansell

Jermaine Wattimena 6 | 3 Jelle Klaasen

Luke Humphries 6 | 5 Andy Hamilton

James Wade 6 | 5 Krzysztof Kciuk

Toni Alcinas 6 | 4 Simon Whitlock

Rob Cross 6 | 4 Jason Lowe

Brendan Dolan 6 | 1 Kirk Shepherd

Krzysztof Ratajski 6 | 2 John Henderson

Damon Heta 6 | 3 Luke Woodhouse

Ron Meulenkamp 6 | 4 Jan Dekker

Jonny Clayton 6 | 1 Derk Telnekes

Peter Wright 6 | 1 Niels Zonneveld

Adam Hunt 6 | 4 Chris Dobey

Gavin Carlin 6 | 4 Ricky Evans

Dimitri Van den Bergh 6 | 1 Daryl Gurney

Jose De Sousa 6 | 3 Keegan Brown

Andy Boulton 6 | 5 Ross Smith

Danny Noppert 6 | 5 Steve Lennon

Dirk van Duijvenbode 6 | 5 Christian Bunse

Scott Taylor 6 | 3 Nathan Aspinall

William Borland 6 | 5 William O'Connor

Keane Barry 6 | 5 Ritchie Edhouse

Conan Whitehead 6 | 4 Mervyn King

Joe Cullen 6 | 0 Mark McGeeney

James Wilson 6 | 3 Madars Razma

Michael Smith 6 | 2 Boris Krcmar

Ryan Murray 6 | 5 Stephen Bunting

Update 16:05 - Price dumped out by Schindler as second round begins

Just as the last darts were being thrown in the first round, Gerwyn Price was heading out of proceedings in Coventry. The World Number Three who was imperious at the Autumn Series in terms of the ProTour lost out to Martin Schindler who has been showing signs he is getting back towards his best as of late.

'The Wall' blocked the path of 'The Iceman' as he hit a 103.5 average in winning through 6-2 with Price down at 94.6.

Other early results include Keane Barry averaging 101.2 to defeat Ritchie Edhouse 6-5 in a battle of the secondary tour's best. While Michael Smith also avenged multiple defeats to the impressive Boris Krcmar defeating the Croatian 6-2.

Update 16:00 - Bunting and Whitlock impress as first round concludes

The first round has concluded on the first day of action at the PDC Winter Series with some standout wins to finish proceedings from the likes of Simon Whitlock and Stephen Bunting.

Whitlock has come off the back of a brilliant few months since the return of PDC action and saw off a familiar adversary in Richard North defeating him with a 98 average.

While Bunting faced off against another player very familiar to him just from the sheer amount of times he has faced him first round on the Players Championship series this year in Jeff Smith in despite a 102.9 average from the Canadian, it was 104 from the St Helens ace who won through 6-3.

Ross Smith also continued his brilliant form as of late by hitting a 100.5 average to defeat Darren Webster 6-2. While there was also victories for the likes of Daryl Gurney (6-5 vs. Steve West), Damon Heta (6-2 vs. Justin Pipe) and Luke Woodhouse (6-0 vs. Steve Brown).

Last 128

Gerwyn Price 6 | 1 Harald Leitinger

Martin Schindler 6 | 5 David Pallett

Vincent van der Voort 6 | 2 Maikel Verberk

Alan Tabern 6 | 1 Yordi Meeuwisse

Gabriel Clemens 6 | 5 Adrian Lewis

Kevin Doets 6 | 1 Martin Atkins (Wigan)

Steve Beaton 6 | 2 Ryan Searle

Jim Williams 6 | 3 Josh Payne

Devon Petersen 6 | 3 Mike De Decker

Scott Waites 6 | 4 Darius Labanauskas

Simon Stevenson 6 | 3 Martijn Kleermaker

Mickey Mansell 6 | 1 Gary Blades

Jermaine Wattimena 6 | 5 Ian White

Jelle Klaasen 6 | 5 Matthew Edgar

Andy Hamilton 6 | 5 Gary Anderson

Luke Humphries 6 | 1 Darren Penhall

James Wade 6 | 3 Karel Sedlacek

Krzysztof Kciuk 6 | 1 Jonathan Worsley

Toni Alcinas 6 | 3 Maik Kuivenhoven

Simon Whitlock 6 | 3 Richard North

Rob Cross 6 | 5 Nick Kenny

Jason Lowe 6 | 1 Matt Clark

Brendan Dolan 6 | 3 Reece Robinson

Kirk Shepherd 6 | 0 Lisa Ashton

Krzysztof Ratajski 6 | 5 Bradley Brooks

John Henderson 6 | 0 Barrie Bates

Damon Heta 6 | 2 Justin Pipe

Luke Woodhouse 6 | 0 Steve Brown

Jan Dekker 6 | 5 Glen Durrant

Ron Meulenkamp 6 | 4 Rowby-John Rodriguez

Jonny Clayton 6 | 3 Max Hopp

Derk Telnekes 6 | 2 David Evans

Peter Wright 6 | 2 Jeffrey De Zwaan

Niels Zonneveld 6 | 3 Kim Huybrechts

Chris Dobey 6 | 3 Ryan Meikle

Adam Hunt 6 | 4 Scott Mitchell

Ricky Evans 6 | 5 Jamie Hughes

Gavin Carlin 6 | 5 Daniel Larsson

Daryl Gurney 6 | 5 Steve West

Dimitri Van den Bergh 6 | 2 Aaron Beeney

Jose De Sousa 6 | 2 Jitse Van der Wal

Keegan Brown 6 | 3 Marko Kantele

Ross Smith 6 | 2 Darren Webster

Andy Boulton 6 | 3 Adrian Gray

Danny Noppert 6 | 4 Robert Thornton

Steve Lennon 6 | 4 Jesus Noguera

Dirk van Duijvenbode 6 | 5 Kai Fan Leung

Ted Evetts 6 | 3 Christian Bunse

Nathan Aspinall 6 | 2 Ciaran Teehan

Scott Taylor 6 | 3 Robert Collins

William O'Connor 6 | 0 Ryan Joyce

William Borland 6 | 5 Wayne Jones

Ritchie Edhouse 6 | 3 Dave Chisnall

Keane Barry 6 | 1 Scott Baker

Mervyn King 6 | 3 Richie Burnett

Conan Whitehead 6 | 1 Michael Barnard

Joe Cullen 6 | 5 Joe Murnan

Mark McGeeney 6 | 1 Peter Jacques

Madars Razma 6 | 3 Matthew Dennant

James Wilson 6 | 2 John Michael

Michael Smith 6 | 3 Callan Rydz

Boris Krcmar 6 | 4 Carl Wilkinson

Stephen Bunting 6 | 3 Jeff Smith

Ryan Murray 6 | 2 Benito van de Pas

Update 14:35 - Price and Wright ease through, Durrant and White out

The seeded players were the first to action on Day One of the PDC Winter Series and already we have had big names through but also out of proceedings.

Peter Wright who has not played since his European Championship triumph due to bowing out of the World Cup of Darts returned with a 6-2 victory over Jeffrey de Zwaan with a 105 average.

The opposite for Gerwyn Price who has come straight from Austria after glory in the World Cup of Darts and for the Welshman, it was a 6-1 win with a 100 average over Harald Leitinger.

For Premier League Champion, Glen Durrant though who is making his return after a bout of COVID-19 which he described as the toughest period of his life went flying into a 3-0 lead but lost out in a decider to Jan Dekker.

Ian White is also out losing to Jermaine Wattimena 6-5 in his opener. While there was also tight victories for Gabriel Clemens over Adrian Lewis (6-5), Rob Cross against Nick Kenny by the same scoreline.

While Dave Chisnall is also out after losing to Ritchie Edhouse who will make his tour return as a Tour Card holder next year after finishing second on the Challenge Tour. Jose de Sousa is also at it again with a 104 average in thumping Jitse van der Wal 6-2.

Gerwyn Price (100.7) 6 | 1 (82.3) Harald Leitinger

Gabriel Clemens (97.5) 6 | 5 (96.9) Adrian Lewis

Devon Petersen (90.4) 6 | 3 (84.1) Mike De Decker

Ian White (94.8) 5 | 6 (92.5) Jermaine Wattimena

James Wade (95.7) 6 | 3 (93.3) Karel Sedlacek

Rob Cross (87.8) 6 | 5 (90.1) Nick Kenny

Krzysztof Ratajski (99.6) 6 | 5 (93.8) Bradley Brooks

Glen Durrant (89.8) 5 | 6 (88.9) Jan Dekker

Peter Wright (105.1) 6 | 2 (92.7) Jeffrey De Zwaan

Jamie Hughes (84.5) 5 | 6 (86.8) Ricky Evans

Jose De Sousa (104.8) 6 | 2 (86.0) Jitse Van der Wal

Danny Noppert (93.3) 6 | 4 (85.4) Robert Thornton

Nathan Aspinall (97.5) 6 | 2 (84.6) Ciaran Teehan

Dave Chisnall (93.3) 3 | 6 (94.3) Ritchie Edhouse

Joe Cullen (88.2) 6 | 5 (88.6) Joe Murnan

Michael Smith (103.5) 6 | 3 (96.1) Callan Rydz

Update 13:45 - Tournament to kick off shortly

The tournament will get underway shortly as the board seeds will enter the oche. Gerwyn Price and Peter Wright are among the players who will come into action in the first batch of matches.

Gerwyn Price - | - Harald Leitinger

Gabriel Clemens - | - Adrian Lewis

Devon Petersen - | - Mike De Decker

Ian White - | - Jermaine Wattimena

James Wade - | - Karel Sedlacek

Rob Cross - | - Nick Kenny

Krzysztof Ratajski - | - Bradley Brooks

Glen Durrant - | - Jan Dekker

Peter Wright - | - Jeffrey De Zwaan

Jamie Hughes - | - Ricky Evans

Jose De Sousa - | - Jitse Van der Wal

Danny Noppert - | - Robert Thornton

Nathan Aspinall - | - Ciaran Teehan

Dave Chisnall - | - Ritchie Edhouse

Joe Cullen - | - Joe Murnan

Michael Smith - | - Callan Rydz

Update 13:15 - Draw released

The draw has been released for Day One of the PDC Winter Series in Coventry. Among the top ties are Peter Wright versus Jeffrey de Zwaan and Gary Anderson against Andy Hamilton. Adrian Lewis meets Gabriel Clemens, while number one seed Gerwyn Price faces Harald Leitinger.

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Draw for Day One of PDC Winter Series: Wright faces De Zwaan in first round, Anderson against Hamilton