World Championship spot and Grand Slam place also reward for Ratajski's stunning weekend
Wednesday 30 October 2019 15:05, UK
Krzysztof Ratajski enjoyed a memorable weekend in Barnsley, winning both Players Championship events, to seal a place at Finals weekend in November.
The PDC Tour is heading into its closing stages with qualification spots and Tour cards at stake and Ratajski, who doesn't own a card having missed out at Q-School in January, joined an illustrious pairing with a weekend double.
Only Michael van Gerwen and Gary Anderson have achieved the feat this year, winning back-to-back Players events, and Polish ace Ratajski became the third man to do so after beating Adrian Lewis in Sunday's final.
Twenty-four hours earlier the 41-year-old beat Chris Dobey to win Saturday's final and his unbeaten weekend now means he has a place at the Players Championship Finals in Minehead at the end of November and the World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace.
Ratajski, who had only played in two Players Championship events this season before this weekend, is seeded 28th for the tournament and will face Gerwyn Price while he also has a provisional place at the Grand Slam of Darts.
Ratajski captured headlines earlier this year by winning a UK Open qualifier in February but his Barnsley double means he pockets two £10,000 winner's cheques and is well on the way to securing a Tour card for 2019 without the need for Q-School.
"I can't believe it, for me this is really something impossible but I've done it again," said Ratajski.
"I don't know how I did it but for me this is a perfect weekend - I am so happy! I've beaten some really great players this weekend but I have big respect for all of them. Fourteen wins across the weekend is quite an achievement".
Ratajski's Sunday schedule began with victories over Cameron Menzies, Zoran Lerchbacher and Terry Temple.
He accounted for Daryl Gurney in the last 16, before knocking off Michael Smith to reach the last four where he was impressive in dispatching Aussie Kyle Anderson.
Lewis was waiting for him in the final and in a high-quality affair it was Ratajski who prevailed thanks to a 6-4 victory to complete a stunning weekend.
On Saturday, Ratajski made his mark by coming from behind in almost all of his matches beating Madars Razma, Kirk Shepherd, James Wilson, Cameron Menzies and William O'Connor on his way to the last four.
He then came back from 5-1 down against in-form Steve Beaton to seal a superb victory and reeled off five successive legs to come from 2-1 down to beat Dobey in the final.
Ratajski's memorable double means from the 22 events across the Players Championship calendar there have been 14 different winners.
Ian White will top the seedings for the Minehead finale after a memorable season on the Tour.
Darts season is in full swing and continues on Sky Sports with the Grand Slam of Darts in November and the World Championships which get underway from the iconic Alexandra Palace on December 13.
