Wessel Nijman picked up his second PDC ranking title on Thursday, after defeating Damon Heta 8-3 in the final of Players Championship 30, as the midweek triple header concluded at Leicester’s Mattioli Arena.
Nijman, who picked up his maiden ranking title almost a year to the day, reached the final firstly by recording a succession of victories against Tom Bissell, Marvin Van Velzen, Andy Baetens, Cameron Menzies, Chris Dobey and Ryan Searle, to set up a clash with Heta.
The final began with Nijman racing into a 2-0 lead with winning legs coming in 20 and 11 darts respectively before Heta fort back by winning back-to-back legs of his own in a total of 27 darts to square the tie up at 2apiece. The pair then held throw for the following two legs before Nijman took complete control and dominated the remainder of the final as the Dutch star rattled off five successive legs, missing double 12 for a nine-dart finish along the way, and sealed the victory in Leg 11 with a 14 darter to pick up a second ranking title of his career as well as collecting the £15,000 top prize.
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Heta’s run to the final saw Australia’s premier player record victories on the day against Lukas Wenig, Thibault Tricole, Cam Crabtree, Jeffrey De Graaf, Rob Owen and Wesley Plaisier, before being denied by Nijman.
Elsewhere, there were Quarter Final runs for Former World Youth Champion Bradley Brooks and 2024 Grand Slam of Darts Semi Finalist Mickey Mansell, whilst the likes of Josh Rock, James Wade and Wednesday’s PC29 winner Ross Smith were amongst the high-profile first round casualties.
The PDC Pro Tour returns on 14-15th October in Wigan with Players Championship 31 & 32 taking place, with the 128 players competing for £125,000 in prize money each day. Play will be broadcasted across four streaming boards on PDC.TV and various bookmaker websites worldwide, with all live scores and results on tv.dartconnect.com.
Players Championship 30
Last 16
Chris Dobey 6-0 Max Hopp
Wessel Nijman 6-4 Cameron Menzies
Ryan Searle 6-5 Andrew Gilding
Mickey Mansell 6-2 Ryan Joyce
Rob Owen 6-2 Luke Woodhouse
Damon Heta 6-3 Jeffrey De Graaf
Bradley Brooks 6-1 Mike De Decker
Wesley Plaisier 6-1 Niels Zonneveld
Quarter Finals
Wessel Nijman 6-2 Chris Dobey
Ryan Searle 6-3 Mickey Mansell
Damon Heta 6-3 Rob Owen
Wesley Plaisier 6-5 Bradley Brooks
Semi Final
Wessel Nijman 7-2 Ryan Searle
Damon Heta 7-6 Wesley Plaisier
Final
Wessel Nijman 8-3 Damon Heta
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