Adrian Lewis secured his first Pro Tour title of the year after producing a sensational display to defeat his fellow Premier League star Dave Chisnall 6-3, to win Players Championship Five at the Arena MK in Milton Keynes on Saturday afternoon.
The two-time world champion was unseeded for today’s event, but produced some incredible darts to defeat a host of top-class players. His victory against Chisnall marked the fifteenth Pro Tour title of his career- which puts him seventh on the all-time list alongside former world number one Colin Lloyd.
Lewis and Chisnall traded maximums in the opening leg of the final, but ‘Jackpot’ drew first blood with a stunning 11-darter. He doubled his tally moments later with a majestic 164 kill, before registering his third straight leg with a 15-darter via D10. However, Chisnall responded by opening his account on D2 in leg four.
The Stoke-on-Trent ace restored his three-leg cushion with a commanding 14-darter on D8, but Chisnall remained in touch after conjuring up an effortless 112 finish for a critical hold. Nevertheless, Lewis was relentless and fired in his third maximum before converting a clinical two-dart 71 kill to move to within a leg of victory.
Chisnall prolonged the contest with a 13-dart hold culminating on D18, before a dramatic final leg ensued. ‘Jackpot’ kicked off the ninth leg with successive maximums before agonisingly wiring D12 for a nine-darter. However, he returned to eventually seal victory via D1, to scoop the £10,000 winner’s cheque and continue his excellent form.
Earlier in the day, Lewis began his campaign with a dramatic deciding-leg victory over Benito van de Pas. The Dutchman led 4-1, only for Lewis to reel off four consecutive legs to seize the initiative. Van de Pas crashed in a superb 11-darter to force a decider, but ‘Jackpot’ recovered to dump out the fourth seed against the throw, in the final leg.
The two-time world champion then recorded a convincing 6-2 win over his fellow Stokie Andy Hamilton, before surviving another deciding-leg shootout against an impressive Justin Pipe to reach round-four. There he defeated Players Championship One finalist Peter Jacques 6-3.
In the last eight, Lewis faced Richard North, who defeated Harry Robinson, Dirk van Duijvenbode, Jimmy Hendriks and Dimitri van den Bergh to reach his maiden Pro-Tour quarter-final. North led Lewis 3-0, but ‘Jackpot’ produced a tremendous comeback to win six of the remaining eight legs and prevail in another last-leg decider.
In the semi-finals, the Stoke star faced Michael van Gerwen, who had conceded just 11 legs to reach the last four. It was a spectacular contest which saw the pair share 13 maximums and Van Gerwen miss D12 for a nine-darter. However, Lewis triumphed courtesy of a sublime 11-dart leg against throw in the final leg.
On the other side of the draw, Chisnall also performed impressively to reach his first Pro Tour final since last October. The St Helen’s ace kicked off his campaign with a deciding-leg win over Ritchie Edhouse, before comfortably defeating the veteran Andy Jenkins to reach round-three.
‘Chizzy’ then dropped just five legs in his next three matches to storm into the semi-finals. He defeated John Henderson 6-3, before sweeping aside Northern Ireland’s Mickey Mansell 6-2 in round-four.
Chisnall then whitewashed Mark Webster in a rampant display to reach the last eight. The Welshman had relinquished only seven legs in beating the quartet of Robert Owen, Robert Thornton, Jan Dekker and Matt Clark, but the St Helen’s star proved an obstacle too far for the former Lakeside world champion.
In the semi-finals, Chisnall faced Players Championship One winner Alan Norris, who had beaten the likes of Gerwyn Price and Steve Beaton to reach this stage. However, ‘Chuck’ was denied a second Pro Tour title in as many months as Chizzy claimed a fine 6-3 win, before succumbing to an irresistible Lewis in the final.
Elsewhere, there were a host of big-name players to suffer early exits in Milton Keynes. Simon Whitlock and Raymond van Barneveld were beaten in round-one by Dirk van Duijvenbode and Steve Lennon respectively, whilst Jelle Klaasen suffered a shock whitewash defeat to Richie Burnett.
Third seed Mensur Suljovic was beaten at the same stage by Jan Dekker, whilst Benito van de Pas had the misfortune of facing the unseeded Lewis in the opening round. World number two Gary Anderson was beaten 6-3 in round-two by Peter Hudson, whilst fellow Scot Peter Wright lost out to an imperious Steve Beaton in the last 16.
The full list of results from today’s action at the MK Arena can be viewed below!
Photo Credit: Lawrence Lustig/PDC
Players Championship Five
Saturday April 1, Arena MK, Milton Keynes
First Round
Michael van Gerwen 6-3 Sven Groen
Vincent van der Voort 6-2 Haruki Muramatsu
Brendan Dolan 6-3 Jamie Caven
Simon Stevenson 6-1 Craig Gilchrist
Cristo Reyes 6-1 Darron Brown
Mick Todd 6-4 Martin Schindler
Steve Hine 6-1 Steve West
Aden Kirk 6-4 Ryan Palmer
Ian White 6-5 Ryan Searle
Matthew Dennant 6-1 Dennis Smith
Robbie Green 6-3 Richie Corner
Jamie Bain 6-4 Berry van Peer
Kim Huybrechts 6-5 Kirk Shepherd
Rob Cross 6-2 Lee Bryant
Christian Kist 6-2 Paul Harvey
Scott Taylor 6-4 Jamie Lewis
Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-4 Simon Whitlock
Richard North 6-3 Harry Robinson
Josh Payne 6-2 Jeffrey de Zwaan
Jimmy Hendriks 6-4 Mick McGowan
Shaun Griffiths 6-5 Michael Smith
Dimitri van den Bergh 6-4 Jonny Clayton
Kyle Anderson 6-5 Warrick Scheffer
Kevin Painter 6-5 Stephen Burton
Adrian Lewis 6-5 Benito van de Pas
Andy Hamilton 6-4 Terry Roach
Justin Pipe 6-2 Maik Langendorf
Joe Murnan 6-1 Ross Twell
Gary Anderson 6-1 Ray Campbell
Peter Hudson 6-4 Max Hopp
Daryl Gurney 6-2 Mark Barilli
Peter Jacques 6-1 Paul Nicholson
Peter Wright 6-1 Mike De Decker
Wayne Jones 6-3 Diogo Portela
Steve Lennon 6-5 Raymond van Barneveld
Terry Temple 6-1 Paul Rowley
Stephen Bunting 6-2 Simon Preston
John Bowles 6-2 Devon Petersen
Steve Beaton 6-2 Zoran Lerchbacher
John Part 6-4 Ricky Williams
Alan Norris 6-5 Rowby-John Rodriguez
Ronnie Baxter 6-5 Ted Evetts
Ronny Huybrechts 6-3 Chris Quantock
Adam Hunt 6-5 Darren Johnson
Gerwyn Price 6-2 Madars Razma
Yordi Meeuwisse 6-3 Tony Newell
Chris Dobey 6-3 James Richardson
Ricky Evans 6-2 Colin Roelofs
Dave Chisnall 6-5 Ritchie Edhouse
Andy Jenkins 6-1 Jim Brown
Darren Webster 6-2 William O’Connor
John Henderson 6-5 Jeffrey de Graaf
Richie Burnett 6-0 Jelle Klaasen
Keegan Brown 6-2 Ryan Meikle
James Wilson 6-3 Ron Meulenkamp
Mickey Mansell 6-1 David Pallett
Jan Dekker 6-3 Mensur Suljovic
Jonathan Worsley 6-1 Brian Woods
Robert Thornton 6-4 Prakash Jiwa
Mark Webster 6-2 Robert Owen
Andrew Gilding 6-5 Joe Cullen
Vincent Kamphuis 6-5 Andy Boulton
Wes Newton 6-3 Mervyn King
Matt Clark 6-5 Antonio Alcinas
Second Round
Michael van Gerwen 6-3 Vincent van der Voort
Simon Stevenson 6-2 Brendan Dolan
Cristo Reyes 6-3 Mick Todd
Steve Hine 6-4 Aden Kirk
Ian White 6-2 Matthew Dennant
Jamie Bain 6-1 Robbie Green
Rob Cross 6-4 Kim Huybrechts
Scott Taylor 6-0 Christian Kist
Richard North 6-4 Dirk van Duijvenbode
Jimmy Hendriks 6-3 Josh Payne
Dimtiri van den Bergh 6-1 Shaun Griffiths
Kyle Anderson 6-5 Kevin Painter
Adrian Lewis 6-2 Andy Hamilton
Justin Pipe 6-3 Joe Murnan
Peter Hudson 6-3 Gary Anderson
Peter Jacques 6-3 Daryl Gurney
Peter Wright 6-1 Wayne Jones
Steve Lennon 6-3 Terry Temple
Stephen Bunting 6-1 John Bowles
Steve Beaton 6-0 John Part
Alan Norris 6-1 Ronnie Baxter
Adam Hunt 6-2 Ronny Huybrechts
Gerwyn Price 6-5 Yordi Meeuwisse
Ricky Evans 6-4 Chris Dobey
Dave Chisnall 6-3 Andy Jenkins
John Henderson 6-1 Darren Webster
Keegan Brown 6-5 Richie Burnett
Mickey Mansell 6-4 James Wilson
Jan Dekker 6-0 Jonathan Worsley
Mark Webster 6-1 Robert Thornton
Andrew Gilding 6-2 Vincent Kamphuis
Matt Clark 6-3 Wes Newton
Third Round
Michael van Gerwen 6-3 Simon Stevenson
Cristo Reyes 6-5 Steve Hine
Ian White 6-5 Jamie Bain
Rob Cross 6-2 Scott Taylor
Richard North 6-1 Jimmy Hendriks
Dimitri van den Bergh 6-4 Kyle Anderson
Adrian Lewis 6-5 Justin Pipe
Peter Jacques 6-5 Peter Hudson
Peter Wright 6-2 Steve Lennon
Steve Beaton 6-5 Stephen Bunting
Alan Norris 6-2 Adam Hunt
Gerwyn Price 6-2 Ricky Evans
Dave Chisnall 6-3 John Henderson
Mickey Mansell 6-2 Keegan Brown
Mark Webster 6-2 Jan Dekker
Matt Clark 6-1 Andrew Gilding
Last 16
Michael van Gerwen 6-1 Cristo Reyes
Ian White 6-3 Rob Cross
Richard North 6-4 Dimitri van den Bergh
Adrian Lewis 6-3 Peter Jacques
Steve Beaton 6-4 Peter Wright
Alan Norris 6-2 Gerwyn Price
Dave Chisnall 6-2 Mickey Mansell
Mark Webster 6-2 Matt Clark
Last 8
Michael van Gerwen 6-1 Ian White
Adrian Lewis 6-5 Richard North
Alan Norris 6-5 Steve Beaton
Dave Chisnall 6-0 Mark Webster
Semi-Finals
Adrian Lewis 6-5 Michael van Gerwen
Dave Chisnall 6-3 Alan Norris
Final
Adrian Lewis 6-3 Dave Chisnall
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