Dave Chisnall is crowned the European Darts Open champion in Leverkusen in an 8-6 win over Ross Smith, earning himself his first European Tour win in 2024.

The number two seed showed resilience on multiple occasions and held his nerve throughout the weekend to pick up the £30,000 jackpot.

The man from St Helens kicked off his weekend with a last leg decider win over Luke Woodhouse. Chisnall established a 3-1 lead before Woodhouse reeled off four legs on the spin, putting himself one away from the all important win. Chisnall bounced back to win three in a row and edge through. Both players averaged 100 in an exciting tussle for a place in the third round.

Kevin Doets was the next name in Chisnall’s path and was able to muster four legs against the Englishman. Doets earnt himself a 3-2 and 4-3 lead during the match itself, but Chisnall dug deep to win three on the trot and progress through 6-4. Chisnall threw in a 124 checkout en route.

Chisnall returned later that evening to face Ryan Searle, who defeated Michael van Gerwen only a few hours prior. Once more, Chisnall remained calm and defeated ‘Heavy Metal’ in a last leg decider. Chisnall maintained his incredible temperament in precarious positions, and for the third game running, he overcame a two leg deficit when he was at the point of no return to reel off three legs in a row.

His semi-final performance was his most comfortable win of the weekend, as he dispatched World Cup winner Damon Heta 7-1. Heta stopped an inform Stephen Bunting in the previous round who averaged 117 in one of his previous games, but it was evident that Heta ran out of steam and wasn’t able to put much of a fight to Chizzy.

Chisnall’s encounter with Ross Smith in the final saw both struggle in the average department. The first six legs were shared at 3-3, before Chisnall established a three leg cushion to put himself 6-3 ahead. Smith followed up with three legs of his own to pile on the pressure, but Chisnall’s stamina proved to be the deciding factor as he reeled off the final two legs to win 8-6.

European Tour 8 

Quarter-Finals:

Damon Heta 6-5 Stephen Bunting

Dave Chisnall 6-5 Ryan Searle

Michael Smith 6-5 Martin Schindler

Ross Smith 6-5 Gian van Veen

Semi-Finals:

Dave Chisnall 7-1 Damon Heta

Ross Smith 7-5 Michael Smith

Final: