Van Gerwen Wins German Darts Championship
MICHAEL VAN GERWEN claimed his seventh European Tour title of the year as he defeated James Wilson 8-6 in the final of the German Darts Championship in Hildesheim on Sunday.
The world number one lost just seven legs over the course of the weekend, backing up July's European Darts Matchplay with another crown to continue his dominance on the European Tour in 2018.
The 135,000 pound tournament at Halle 39 saw runner-up Wilson reach his first ever European Tour final, but Van Gerwen proved just too strong in the final, landing ton-plus checkouts of 154 and 118 to clinch the 25,000 pound prize.
Van Gerwen was at his unstoppable best, hitting a 103.56 tournament average across the weekend which began with a 6-0 rout of Cristo Reyes in round two.
The two-time World Champion made it back-to-back whitewashes against German crowd favourite Martin Schindler in the last 16 before dropping his one and only leg en route to the final in his 6-1 win over Dave Chisnall.
Van Gerwen then made it a hat-trick of whitewashes with a 7-0 triumph over Joe Cullen to reach the final.
"It's hard to perform at a high standard every week but I'm happy with how I played this weekend," said Van Gerwen.
"I didn't make too many mistakes which is always pleasing and I loved playing in front of this great crowd.
"I think 17 tournament wins so far this year isn't bad!
"There are so many tournaments coming ahead and I want to win every one of them. I'm going to be at it non-stop until the end of the year."
The Dutch ace raced out of the blocks into a 3-0 lead before Wilson tidied up 44 to notch his first leg on the board.
Wilson wired double 16 for a break of throw before clinical Van Gerwen stepped up to land magnificent 118 and 154 checkouts in back-to-back legs to open up a commanding 5-1 lead.
However, the Yorkshireman never gave up and clawed his way back into contention at 3-5 down, only for Van Gerwen to reassert his dominance and move within a leg of the title at 7-3.
Once again, Wilson refused to go down without a fight and found himself dreaming of the impossible after rattling off three successive legs thanks to some brilliant finishing under pressure.
Van Gerwen ended Wilson's hopes with an outstanding 11-dart leg to lift the German Darts Championship for a second time.
Wilson's impressive run to his third PDC ranking final saw the Huddersfield thrower record impressive victories over Jermaine Wattimena, Jonny Clayton, Robert Thornton, Ron Meulenkamp and Mensur Suljovic.
The Hildesheim event was also a significant one for Meulenkamp, who continued his progress to reach a second quarter-final on the continent this year.