Jamie Caven produced a brilliant display of darts to win his first PDC ProTour title since February 2011 as he overcame Paul Nicholson 6-4 in the decider of the third Players Championship event of the year in Wigan.
The Derby based thrower showed signs of a return to form by reaching last week’s European Darts Open semi-final last week, and he also finished runner-up to Robert Thornton in a UK Open Qualifier back in March, but this time he went one stage further to collect the £10,000 first prize.
Caven started the day well dropping just one leg to Steve Coote and Mark Frost before defeating Alan Derrett by a 6-3 margin to reach the last 16.
The 37-year-old then stepped up a gear as he beat Belgium’s Kim Huybrechts 6-2 before thumping the experienced Kevin Painter 6-1, to reach the last four stage where he beat Thornton to reach the final on Saturday.
Caven established total command against Paul Nicholson at the start of the decider as he won the opening three legs before Nicholson took out 66 to get a leg on the board.
Caven restored his three-leg advantage with an excellent 13-darter only for Nicholson to apply pressure on his opponent as he won the next two legs to reduce the gap to one.
Nicholson crucially missed three darts at double 16 to level, which proved costly as Caven landed double top for a 5-3 lead.
Nicholson landed double 18 to win the ninth leg after Caven missed a dart to win the match, but the Derby man was not to be denied as he took out 76 to end Nicholson’s hopes.
Nicholson opened up his run to a second final in the space of four weeks with wins over Chris Aubrey and impressive Dutchman Jerry Hendriks.
The world number 15 then recorded good wins over the experienced duo of Steve Beaton and Mervyn King, before edging out Mark Walsh in a deciding-leg to secure a quarter-final place.
Nicholson then defeated Northern Ireland’s Michael Mansell and world number ten Justin Pipe to reach the final, before being edged out for the £10,000 first prize by Caven.
Thornton began his run to the semi-finals with comfortable wins over Jason Marriott and Darron Brown before recovering from 5-3 deficit to overcome Darren Webster in a deciding-leg.
The Scotsman beat Andy Smith 6-3 to reach the last eight, where he overcame the tough challenge of Dennis Priestley with a 6-2 triumph, to keep hopes of a third victory in Wigan this year.
However, hopes of that feat being achieved were ended when he fell to a 6-3 loss at the hands of the brilliant Caven.
Justin Pipe enjoyed his best performance so far in 2013 as he reached the last four, after three quarter-final appearances.
The Taunton man came from behind to beat Ricky Sudale 6-5 at the last 16 stage before producing an excellent display to see off Gary Anderson, but was denied a spot in the final by Nicholson.
Northern Ireland’s Mansell, who impressed on Friday night to qualify for the Gibraltar Darts Trophy next month, recorded his best performance on the ProTour since October 2010, as he reached the last eight.
Painter’s run to the quarter-finals saw him enjoy his best performance since a semi-final appearance in a UK Open Qualifier in Crawley, two months ago, while Anderson continued his consistent form on the ProTour with a run to last eight, to go with his four semi-final appearances so far in 2013.
Yorkshire legend Dennis Priestley, produced a fine display of darts to reach the quarter-finals and take away £1,500 in prize money.
Competing for just for the fifth time on the ProTour in 2013, the veteran two-time World Champion he recorded whitewash wins over Steve McNally and former major finalist Ronnie Baxter to make a very strong start.
Priestley then overcame Kevin Dowling and Stuart Kellett by 6-4 margins to reach the quarter-finals, where he found Thornton too strong an opponent.
Ricky Sudale, who won a Tour Card in January and reached the quarter-finals of a UK Open Qualifier in Crawley three months ago, produced a fine display to reach the last 16 in Wigan.
The 46-year-old from Derbyshire, who defeated James Hubbard and Ian White along the way, was denied a second quarter-final appearance after agonisingly losing a deciding-leg to Pipe, after establishing a 5-3 advantage.