For the record, Michael Van Gerwen (1/1), Peter Wright (8/1), James Wade (11/1), and Dave Chisnall (16/1) are all in attendance – so let’s just say that MVG won as he probably will do, or did, depending on when you’re reading this.
Actually, Mighty Mike won last week in Perth, Australia; this was his first win in the country, having previously been defeated in two Sydney Darts Masters finals as well as the 2014 final in Perth. A dominant MVG dispatched Dave Chisnall 11-4 in the final of the TABtouch Perth Darts Masters at the PCEC on Saturday.
On his way to the final, MVG had also seen off Kyle Anderson in the first round before beating James Wade the next day. At the semi-final stage, he came face to face with Peter ‘Snakebite’ Wright, whom he swept aside 11-5 to bank his place in that evening’s final.
His rival in the final, Dave Chisnall, had also impressed on his way through the event, having grown in confidence from his opening round win Koha Kokiri. From there, he dumped out the reigning world champion Gary ‘The Flying Scotsman’ Anderson before moving onto Raymond van Barneveld, with the St Helens favourite emerging as the 11-8 winner, leading to his ill fated showdown with Van Gerwen later that day.
The world number one used the final to right the wrongs of the previous week’s defeat to Phil Taylor back in Sydney. Here, he stormed ahead early on, winning five successive legs, before Chisnall struck back and bought the match to 5-3.
The fightback was short-lived, however, as Van Gerwen claimed three in a row which included an 11-darter. Despite pulling a leg back, Chisnall was unable to hang on any longer leaving Van Gerwen to throw out for the title, his 14th tournament victory of 2016 and first ever on Australian soil.
Afterwards, Van Gerwen had this to say: “This is my first World Series win in Australia so it’s a great victory. Dave’s such a good player and you have to produce your best game but I went into the final with a lot of confidence because I had a fantastic record against him”.
As the sixth and final leg of this year’s World Series, Perth was the last event to count towards the World Series’ seedings for the World Series Finals which begin in Glasgow’s Braehead Arena this November 5.
In winning here, Van Gerwen leapfrogs Gary Anderson in the World Series rankings and will enter the finals as the number one seed and favourite with the bookmakers.
TABtouch Perth Darts Masters 2016 Results
First round, Thursday August 25
- James Wade 6-0 Rob Szabo
- Dave Chisnall 6-1 Koha Kokiri
- Peter Wright 6-4 Adam Rowe
- Adrian Lewis 6-3 David Platt
- Phil Taylor 2-6 Corey Cadby
- Gary Anderson 6-3 Kim Lewis
- Michael van Gerwen 6-4 Kyle Anderson
- Raymond van Barneveld 6-2 Simon Whitlock
Quarter-finals, Friday August 26
- Adrian Lewis 8-10 Raymond van Barneveld
- Michael van Gerwen 10-8 James Wade
- Gary Anderson 7-10 Dave Chisnall
- Corey Cadby 2-10 Peter Wright
Semi-finals, Saturday August 27
- Dave Chisnall 11-8 Raymond van Barneveld
- Michael van Gerwen 11-5 Peter Wright
Final, Saturday August 27
- Michael van Gerwen 11-4 Dave Chisnall
The next live darts action will be on September 24 when the Champions League of Darts will begin in Cardiff, Wales.