Phil Taylor claimed German Darts Masters glory as he defeated Michael van Gerwen 6-4 in a thrilling final at the Maritim Hotel in Berlin.
Taylor picked up his third title of 2014 on the PDC ProTour with the Easter triumph last night, claiming a £20,000 first prize as he denied van Gerwen a second successive European Tour win.
Taylor had overcome van Gerwen in the Betway Premier League Darts on Thursday in Aberdeen, and repeated the feat four days later as he completed a brilliant two days of darts.
Having whitewashed Sweden’s Magnus Caris in his opening game on Sunday, he then saw off a trio of St Helens players on Monday to reach the decider.
He firstly saw off Dave Chisnall 6-3 before whitewashing Michael Smith – Taylor’s conqueror in the World Championship in December – with a 109.98 average and then overcoming Stephen Bunting 6-3 in the semi-finals.
Taylor then saved some of his best darts for the decider against van Gerwen, taking an early 3-1 lead as he landed scores of 177 and 174 and a 12-dart finish.
World Champion van Gerwen hit back to level, breaking throw in leg five after a miss at tops from Taylor before posting a 13-darter to square the game.
Taylor replied with a 13-darter, and then traded 11-dart legs with van Gerwen to move 5-4 up before landing his third 180 of the game and double 16 as he sealed the win in style with another 13-dart finish.
“I’m delighted,” said Taylor. “It’s always special to win tournaments and this was an amazing line-up, because we both had tough games to get through and it was a difficult day.
“It was a good final but I think beating Michael in Aberdeen got into his head a little bit, because he’s been blowing people away and maybe he started thinking about it, but he brings the best out of everybody.
“Winning this will set me up really well for the rest of the Premier League because I’m so determined to reach the Play-Offs and I’m having a big push this year too to try to get back above Michael to world number one.
“I’m not going to rest on my laurels and I’ll get back on the practice board to prepare for playing Gary Anderson on Thursday in Manchester because it’s a massive game for me.”
Van Gerwen had won February’s Dutch Darts Masters event in Veldhoven, but had to settle for the £8,000 runner-up cheque after matching Taylor for much of the weekend with some brilliant darts of his own.
He also opened his challenge with a whitewash, against German favourite Jyhan Artut, and then defeated emerging talent David Pallett 6-3 in yesterday afternoon’s last 16.
The world number one then whitewashed Steve Beaton in the quarter-finals and defied five 180s from great rival Adrian Lewis to take a 6-3 semi-final victory.
The Dutchman admitted: “I’m disappointed because I’m a winner and I want to win, but Phil played fantastically well in the final. I’ve really enjoyed the weekend and I’ll be back.”
Lewis had dropped just two legs in each of his earlier wins over Kim Huybrechts and John Henderson on Monday as he progressed to the last four, where he was joined by reigning Lakeside Champion Bunting.
The St Helens ace had won through to the semis on his European Tour debut with wins over Brendan Dolan and Vincent van der Voort on Monday before losing out to Taylor, but the £4,000 prize money moves him a step closer to qualifying for July’s BetVictor World Matchplay.
Van der Voort’s return to form this year continued as he battled through to the last eight, where he exited alongside Beaton, Smith and Scottish ace John Henderson, who had been brilliant in knocking out Peter Wright and Simon Whitlock but was unable to claim a third top-eight scalp.
