The perfect weekend for ‘The Power’ as he made it back-to-back victories in the Players Championship tournaments in Wigan!
But Phil Taylor had to be at his very best to beat Justin Pipe 6-4 in a terrific final….Pipe’s consolation though, is that he has now edged out Gary Anderson as No.1 seed for the Players Championship Finals in a fortnight.
And the Unicorn man had to come from 2-4 down to beat Pipe in what was a high quality affair.
In a year when he played less than half the events, Taylor’s wins this weekend in Wigan still means that he will go to Doncaster for the nest TV ‘Major’ next month as the No.7 seed.
Pipe gave it a real go and but for missed doubles at key moments, could have won the final – but Taylor hit three 11 darters on his way to the win
Early on, Taylor beat Stephen Hardy 6-3, Brendan Dolan by the same score, Wayne Jones 6-1 and Steve Beaton 6-1, before winning an all Unicorn semi-final 6-1 against Wes Newton.
Newton had won a thrilling Unicorn quarter-final 6-5 against Terry Jenkins!
But this was Taylor’s day….again – and he has now won three tournaments in seven days after his brilliant win at the Grand Slam, followed by victory at Wigan on Saturday.
In the final, Pipe hit a brilliant 164 check-out to lead 2-1….Taylor levelled but Pipe went 4-2 in front and then missed two darts to move 5-3 up, as Taylor hit another 11 darter to make it 4-4.
‘The Power’ put his foot on the gas to move ahead and he sealed the win in style with a 128 finish.
He really is going to take some beating at those Players Championship Finals and of course, at the World Championship!
It was Pipe’s 6th Pro Tour Final in the last two months….and it included a brilliant 6-1 win over Adrian Lewis is the semi-finals – a result that meant the World Champion doesn’t qualify for the Players Championship Finals.
Elsewhere, James Wade’s weekend to forget was completed by a 3rd Round defeat in an all Unicorn clash to Jenkins, Jamie Caven never got going, as he lost 6-2 to Jones and Arron Monk went down 6-3 to Mark Walsh.
In round two, disappointment for Paul Nicholson – losing a last leg decider to Peter Hudson, Devon Petersen who lost 6-3 against Walsh, Joe Cullen – beaten 6-1 by Colin Lloyd and Colin Osborne who also a 6-1 loser to Alex Roy.
Andy Hamilton’s slim hopes of making the Players Championship Finals were extinguished by fellow Team Unicorn star Arron Monk…..Hamilton’s needed a big day to give himself a chance of forcing his way into the top 32 qualifiers, but lost 6-5 to Monk in the 1st Round.
Kevin Painter withdrew from Sunday’s event in Wigan.
Results – Q/Finals:
Phil Taylor 6-2 Steve Beaton
Wes Newton 6-5 Terry Jenkins
Adrian Lewis 6-5 Peter Wright
Justin Pipe 6-3 Dave Chisnall
Losers - £1.000
Semi-Finals:
Phil Taylor 6-1 Wes Newton
Justin Pipe 6-1 Adrian Lewis
Losers - £2,000
Final:
Phil Taylor 6-4 Justin Pipe
Winner - £6,000
Runner-up - £3,000
By STUART PYKE
Photo courtesy Lawrence Lustig / PDC