Phil Taylor defeated Welsh youngster Jamie Lewis 6-1 to claim the Gibraltar Darts Trophy title last night, taking his first European Tour victory of 2013 in style with an imperious weekend of darts.
Taylor claimed the £20,000 first prize and claimed his second big win of the month, following his Speedy Services UK Open title, as he swept through the field at the Victoria Stadium.
The World Champion dropped only seven legs throughout six wins over the weekend, with Friday’s first round defeat of Gino Vos and Saturday’s win over Dean Winstanley followed by four victories in Sunday’s decisive final stages.
Taylor had defeated Leon De Geus 6-1 in the third round on Sunday afternoon, before whitewashing Steve Beaton in the quarter-finals and then seeing off Dave Chisnall 6-2 in the semis.
He then lost only one leg against 21-year-old Welsh ace Lewis, who was appearing in his first senior final.
Taylor took the final’s first three legs to assume command, finishing 77 in the opener and double 16 in the next two – despite Lewis landing a pair of maximums and missing one dart at a double in both legs.
Lewis then got off the mark by landing double 18 in the fourth, after Taylor missed the bull to take out 81 – but the world number one landed a brace of double top finishes to claim the next two legs, the latter being in 13 darts as he took a 5-1 cushion.
Taylor then missed the bull for a 167 checkout which would have sealed the victory in style, but he returned to post double eight for a 14-darter which wrapped up the £20,000 winner’s prize and his first European Tour win since last June in Berlin.
“It’s fantastic to win this and I’m over the moon,” said Taylor. “I’ve had a good month with winning the UK Open and now the Gibraltar Darts Trophy.
“It’s been a great weekend for me and I’ve really enjoyed it in Gibraltar.”
Taylor added: “I’m very chuffed for Jamie to have got to the final because he’s a lovely kid – very quiet and humble and it’s great to see people like him coming through.
“I hope he kicks on from this now and he’s like a little silent assassin, he just gets on with it and I can’t fault him today.”
Lewis, who won a PDC Tour Card 18 months ago and has won two PDC Unicorn Youth Tour titles and a Challenge Tour event earlier this year, enjoyed a dream day as he won through to his first senior final.
The 21-year-old from Cardigan had to qualify for this event last month and had defeated Colin Osborne and Robert Thornton to reach Sunday’s final stages, where he whitewashed Steve Brown 6-0 with a superb third round display.
Lewis then edged past Kevin Painter 6-5 in the quarter-finals and repeated the scoreline against two-time World Champion Adrian Lewis in the semis, before losing out in the decider.
The £10,000 prize money he receives as runner-up will also ensure that Lewis qualifies for a BetVictor World Matchplay debut this summer, and he admitted: “It’s been a crazy weekend.
“I never thought I’d get this far to be honest – in fact I had a flight booked back to the UK for Sunday afternoon, so I’ve had to reschedule that!
“To beat Adrian Lewis in the semi-finals was huge for me. He’s a two-time World Champion and it was a big match because I knew that if I beat him I was going to be in the World Matchplay, so I was quite nervous and it was my ‘final’ really to win that.
“I believe if I can keep improving that I can do a lot more in the game and I’d love to kick on from here.”
Chisnall, a two-time European Tour finalist, was unable to reach a third final but produced some scintillating darts throughout the weekend and hit 24 180s during the event, including eight in his third round win over Andy Hamilton before he overcame Kim Huybrechts 6-4 in the quarter-finals.
Lewis, meanwhile, ended Michael van Gerwen’s bid to win a third successive European Tour title with a superb 6-5 victory in the last eight, but paid the price for missed doubles against his namesake in the semis.