Tuesday 22 August 2017 17:00, UK
Phil Taylor claimed an eighth World Series of Darts title, and a seventh in Australia as he overcame Peter Wright 11-8 in the final of the inaugural Unibet Melbourne Darts Masters.
Taylor, who has only ever been beaten once in Australia, began the final in nervy fashion missing three darts in the opening leg to break the Wright throw.
The pair traded holds of throw until the sixth leg of the match, where Taylor missed double 19 for a 158 checkout before Wright took out 81, finishing seven, double 17 and then double 20 for a break.
The next three legs saw Wright miss a total of twelve darts at doubles, allowing Taylor to gain control of the match.
Wright then produced another 'double-double' finish in the 11th leg to close the gap to one, as once again he took out 81, this time going nine, double 18, double 18.
'Snakebite' was unable to capitalise though as Taylor then broke again to open up a three leg advantage, with the score at 8-5.
With Taylor looking set to seal the title, Wright then produced a fightback of his own, winning the next three legs to level the score at 8-8.
Once again though, the Scot could not regain the lead as Taylor broke the throw to move in to a 9-8 advantage.
A 112 finish and then another break of throw sealed the win for the 16-time world champion who spoke of his delight after the final.
"I love it over here in Australia, the crowd are brilliant and I'm loving every minute of it," said Taylor. "I've not got many tournaments left in me so I want to win as many as I can before I call it a day.
"I'm so proud to see the sport growing in this part of the world, I've been lucky enough to see it all over the years, but we never believed it would get this big."
The sixth World Series of Darts event of 2017 takes place between August 25-27 at the HBF Stadium in Perth, as eight of the world's best players take on eight qualifiers at the Perth Darts Masters.
Semi-Finals
Peter Wright 11-4 Daryl Gurney
Phil Taylor 11-4 Simon Whitlock
Final
Phil Taylor 11-8 Peter Wright
Best of 21 legs
The biggest names in darts will return to Dublin's Citywest Hotel from October 1-7 for the 2017 World Grand Prix and you will be able to watch all the action with us on Sky Sports, or watch for £6.99 without a contract on NOW TV.
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