Monday 25 February 2019 07:35, UK
Gerwyn Price produced another sensational day of darts to make it a Players Championship double with victory over Ricky Evans in Sunday's final.
Price won Players Championship 5 on Saturday with a brilliant display, seeing off Gabriel Clemens in the final, and he matched that on Sunday to become the first man to do the double this year on the Pro Tour weekend.
Michael van Gerwen, Gary Anderson and Krzysztof Ratajski all achieved the feat last year and Price made it 14 wins across the weekend, remarkably with ten 100+ averages, underlined the level required to claim a Pro Tour crown so far this season.
It's Price's sixth PDC crown and having won back-to-back titles on consecutive weekends in 2016 his double this weekend makes his the 13th ProTour weekend double-event winner in PDC history - sealing an 8-4 win over Evans with a brilliant 170 finish.
Price won through with a 6-5 win over Harry Ward before a stunning burst saw him record consecutive whitewashes. First a remarkable 112.7 average accounted for Zoran Lerchbacher and then 103.7 saw off Josh Payne.
David Pallett managed three legs but a fourth consecutive three figure average saw Price, who has made an unbeaten start to the Premier League ahead of Night Four in Exeter on Thursday, advance to the quarter-finals.
There, he overcame Adrian Lewis 6-4, and followed it up with a 7-2 win over Nathan Aspinall to set up a final with Rapid Ricky who had beaten Adrian Gray, Scott Baker, Daryl Gurney, Krzysztof Ratajski, Kyle Anderson and Danny Nopert to reach his first Players Championship final.
"This weekend I proved to myself and a lot of people that I can play top quality darts," said Price.
"It's all a case of having confidence in myself, believing in my ability and I think I played phenomenally well all day.
"I'm happy with my consistency over the weekend and I couldn't have asked for a better way to win it than with a 170.
"Hopefully now I can carry this form into the Premier League and I can keep performing to this standard and win another TV title along the way."
Barely a day goes by without a nine-dart finish this year and Ritchie Edhouse became the latest man to achieve the feat, chalking up the 10th nine-dart finish of the 2019 PDC campaign in his last-16 defeat to Noppert.
A day of surprise early exits saw Premier League stars Peter Wright, Michael Smith, Mensur Suljovic and Raymond van Barneveld all go out at the first-round stage.
Former World Champion Rob Cross reached the last 32 along with Simon Whitlock, who ended his winless start to the year but's the Iceman who stands triumphant, pocketing £20,000 in prize money for his two days work and firmly putting a winless three month run in the rear-view mirror.
Players Championship 6, Sunday February 24, The Barnsley Metrodome
Last 16
Danny Noppert 6-4 Ritchie Edhouse
John Henderson 6-5 Jonny Clayton
Ricky Evans 6-1 Krzysztof Ratajski
Kyle Anderson 6-4 Rowby-John Rodriguez
Jermaine Wattimena 6-0 Benito van de Pas
Nathan Aspinall 6-5 Chris Dobey
Adrian Lewis 6-2 Ryan Joyce
Gerwyn Price 6-3 David Pallett
Quarter-Finals
Danny Noppert 6-2 John Henderson
Ricky Evans 6-4 Kyle Anderson
Nathan Aspinall 6-3 Jermaine Wattimena
Gerwyn Price 6-4 Adrian Lewis
Semi-Finals
Ricky Evans 7-4 Danny Noppert
Gerwyn Price 7-2 Nathan Aspinall
Final
Gerwyn Price 8-4 Ricky Evans
The Premier League heads to the Westpoint Arena, Exeter on Thursday, February 28. You can also stay up to date with all the action by following us @SkySportsDarts and get all the latest news, previews and interviews sky.mnosports.com/darts
