🏴 SENSATIONAL SMITH ONCE AGAIN! 🏆 A fifth title in just over a month and a third ProTour title on the spin as Michael Smith yet again seals success, securing the win at PC16 with a remarkable 8-6 victory over Dirk van Duijvenbode! Bully Boy is on FIRE 🔥
Sensational Smith seals third Players Championship title in a row after incredible final against Van Duijvenbode
PDCTuesday, 14 June 2022 at 19:51
Michael Smith has continued his incredible form as the man to beat in World Darts by sealing his fifth title in just over a month and his third Players Championship crown in a row claiming the opener in Niedernhausen and Event 16 overall against Dirk van Duijvenbode 8-6.
In a match which sees two players who will be staying in Germany for the remainder of the week on World Cup duty, it potentially offered a future glimpse at both players’ form heading into the team event and it was ‘Bully Boy’ who came out on top in a special final against ‘The Titan’ who was averaging over 110 for the majority of the match. But it was a tie where the misses were always punished and it was Smith who benefited to seal yet another title.
A 180 and 11-darter saw Smith hold throw to lead. Van Duijvenbode missed darts to level up and Smith pinned double 13 for an 81 checkout and a 2-0 lead.
A 50 checkout though saw Van Duijvenbode return the favour to make it 2-1 and he pinned double 16 to level up 2-2. Smith pinned 41 to make it 3-2 after some issues with the DartConnect tablet befuddled both players. A 180 left 81 for Smith who missed the bull to break again and Van Duijvenbode returned for parity on double 18 at 3-3.
Van Duijvenbode left double 20 from 170 to break in a superb leg by the Dutchman and pinned it to lead for the first time at 4-3 with a break. Another maximum saw Van Duijvenbode up his average towards 113 but he missed a 105 checkout and Smith punished with a 170 checkout as the insane standard continued between the pair at 4-4.
A 171 from Smith left 94 with Van Duijvenbode himself sat on 87 in case Smith missed which he did in the form of the second double 19 for 5-4. Van Duijvenbode returned but slipped into the single one going for single 20 for a shot at 87. As a result, Smith finally hit double 19 to lead again at 5-4.
Van Duijvenbode missed 104 to hold and in a game where all misses were being punished, Smith hit a 110 checkout to go 6-4 up. The Dutchman looked for one final reprieve as he took out 53 to break back as he looked to make it 6-6. Another maximum from Smith left 95 as he looked to break again and this time, he did hit both double 19’s to make it 7-5.
Smith missed 114 for the match in the requisite leg and Van Duijvenbode took aim at double 18 which he pinned for yet another break as he looked to force a decider. But Smith produced a special leg when he needed it most with an incredible 121 checkout using Bull, Treble 13, Double 16 to claim it. Special stuff from the St Helens thrower.
Players Championship 16
Last 16
Luke Humphries (99.20) 6 | 2 (96.74) Chris Dobey
Dirk van Duijvenbode (95.17) 6 | 2 (96.38) Dimitri Van den Bergh
Keane Barry (102.78) 6 | 4 (107.82) Dave Chisnall
John Henderson (90.35) 6 | 5 (89.49) Martin Lukeman
Michael Smith (101.03) 6 | 4 (90.73) Stephen Bunting
Andrew Gilding (94.74) 6 | 5 (91.32) Danny Noppert
Josh Rock (100.20) 6 | 0 (93.29) Gabriel Clemens
Krzysztof Ratajski (91.45) 6 | 1 (90.36) Damon Heta
Quarter-Finals
Luke Humphries (91.21) 4 | 6 (100.43) Dirk van Duijvenbode
Keane Barry (95.42) 6 | 2 (79.25) John Henderson
Michael Smith (103.96) 6 | 2 (92.07) Andrew Gilding
Josh Rock (93.47) 6 | 4 (94.86) Krzysztof Ratajski
Semi-Finals
Dirk van Duijvenbode (93.97) 7 | 1 (91.02) Keane Barry
Michael Smith (106.24) 7 | 3 (103.51) Josh Rock
Final
Dirk van Duijvenbode (107.29) 6 | 8 (105.58) Michael Smith
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