15/02/2020

Searle claims first PDC ranking title at Players Championship 3 with exceptional win over Van Gerwen

Ryan Searle has claimed his first PDC ranking title at Players Championship 3 capping it off with an exceptional display against Michael van Gerwen.

Searle has been one of the best players all day and he proved that in the final weathering the storm in the middle half of the match from Van Gerwen to deny the World Number One in an 8-6 win.

Searle claimed a dream start to proceedings going 3-0 up but of course the doubts would have been there with Van Gerwen coming back to smash Wright after going behind in the semi's.

These doubts would have been right as Van Gerwen came back successfully putting it to parity after Searle had darts to make it 4-0.

It was four legs in a row for Mighty Mike as he went 4-3 up and hit the front for the first time in the contest. Searle needed to find some bottle from somewhere to stop the charge and he did make it level again with a 78 checkout.

Van Gerwen though hit back with a brilliant 164 checkout to make it 5-4 with a 12-darter. Despite that though, Searle went 6-5 up to break throw and put Van Gerwen in real trouble.

Van Gerwen broke straight back but he missed a pivotal dart at double four in the requisite leg meaning Searle had the opportunity for glory. In the next leg, Searle kept his bottle and claimed the title to cap off a remarkable performance.

Click here for more information on the ProTour and the prize fund breakdown.

Last 16

Quarter finals

Michael van Gerwen (98.1) 6 | 5 Chris Dobey (89.0)
Peter Wright (108.4) 6 | 3 Joe Cullen (99.8)
Jeffrey De Zwaan (94.4) 6 | 3 Danny Noppert (94.6)
Ryan Searle (93.6) 6 | 5 Glen Durrant (93.5)