Heta wins first Pro Tour title on day two of Autumn Series
Damon Heta won his maiden ranked PDC title on day two of the PDC Autumn Series.
Australian Heta beat world number one Michael van Gerwen and Dimitri Van den Bergh en route to his first Pro Tour final. He then defeated Joe Cullen 8-4 to cap off a memorable day.
It’s his second career PDC title, after winning the Brisbane Darts Masters last year.
Elsewhere on day two of the Autumn Series:
- Stephen Bunting all but secured his World Grand Prix place
- Chris Dobey remains in 16th place in the Grand Prix qualification race but pulled clear of the field
- Simon Whitlock snapped Peter Wright’s Pro Tour win streak at 17, as the Australian kept his Grand Prix qualification hopes alive
Heta handles the heat to land first ranked title
The second Summer Series event saw Ryan Joyce land his first ever PDC ranking title. Now, the second Autumn Series sees Heta capture his.
Given a tough board assignment, Heta started the day by coming through a last leg decider against Scott Waites. This set up a clash against world number one Michael van Gerwen, in which he went 5-1 up, averaging over 100. van Gerwen fought back, but a spectacular 11 dart break of throw saw Heta win the match 6-4 and knockout the Green Machine.
Heta then faced World Matchplay champion Dimitri Van den Bergh, and comfortably won 6-1 to win Board 15. He then had to win another last leg shootout in the last 16, this time against Ross Smith, before producing comfortable 6-3 and 7-3 victories against Martin Schindler and Stephen Bunting respectively to win his quarter and semi final.
This set up a final against Joe Cullen, and both started brightly, each holding their throw for the first eight legs to keep the match all square at 4-4. The turning point of the match came in the ninth and then tenth leg. After missing bull for a 170 checkout, Cullen missed a further two darts for what would have been the first leg of the match. Heta then punished those misses with a D10 shot to go 5-4 up.
This gave Heta all the confidence he needed. A magical 171 in the next leg set up a 138, which he took out in four darts to get the crucial break and go 6-4 up. The Australian then held this throw, and won the match 8-4 with a magnificent 120 checkout to cap off a day he will never forget and win his maiden PDC ranking title.
It also puts him onto £14,000 in the Pro Tour Order of Merit, which sees him just £1,500 off the World Grand Prix qualification places. It also sees him all but qualify for the Players Championship Finals in November at Butlin’s Minehead.
Close for Cullen
It was a case of so near and yet so far for Joe Cullen in Germany, on a day that The Rockstar battled his way into the final.
He started the day with comfortable 6-2 and 6-3 wins against Harald Leitinger and Conan Whitehead to set up a board final against Daryl Gurney. In what would be the first of three last leg deciders for Cullen, he averaged 109.5 en route to a 6-5 win and moved into the last 16.
He then whitewashed Ricky Evans 6-0 in the next round, before averaging 103.0 to beat Gerwyn Price in a last leg shootout. The theme would continue for Cullen against Nathan Aspinall in his semi final, as he punished missed darts from Aspinall for the match to win 7-6 and go through to the final.
After missing those two darts for a 5-4 lead, it seemed to take it out of The Rockstar, and he couldn’t find the extra gear he needed to win his first title of the year. It’s not all bad news for Cullen though, as he moved past the £20,000 mark by making the final, a significant amount of money in the race to qualify for the World Grand Prix.
What else happened?
Stephen Bunting’s semi final run took him over the £20,000 mark, which should be enough to see him into next month’s World Grand Prix.
Chris Dobey made the last 16 to put some distance between himself and the chasing pack for Grand Prix qualification. He stays in 16th place, but is now £1,000 ahead of nearest rivals Mervyn King and Steve Beaton.
Elsewhere, Simon Whitlock ended Peter Wright’s winning streak on the Pro Tour. Snakebite was looking for three straight Pro Tour titles, but was knocked out in the last 16, ending a run of 17 straight consecutive wins on the floor. A quarter final run for the Wizard sees him stay just about in touch in the race to Coventry.
Two players who might be concerned about their form are Jeffrey De Zwaan and Dirk van Duijvenbode. Both lost in the first round and will need to find wins tomorrow to avoid being caught by the chasing pack.
View the:
- PDC Order of Merit. The top 16 players on this will be seeded for the World Grand Prix.
- PDC Pro Tour of Merit. The top 16 players who aren’t already in the top 16 on the normal order of merit will qualify.
How can I follow day three of the Autumn Series?
We’ll have day three, and the rest of the Autumn Series, covered at Online Darts.
There will be a live blog from 11.00am giving you results and ranking changes as they happen.
There will be updates across our:
You can also watch the Autumn Series live.
Day Two Results
Final
Damon Heta 8-4 Joe Cullen
Semi Finals
Joe Cullen 7-6 Nathan Aspinall
Damon Heta 7-3 Stephen Bunting
Quarter Finals
Joe Cullen 6-5 Gerwyn Price
Nathan Aspinall 6-5 Ian White
Stephen Bunting 6-2 Simon Whitlock
Damon Heta 6-3 Martin Schindler
Round Four
Gerwyn Price 6-0 Mervyn King
Joe Cullen 6-0 Ricky Evans
Nathan Aspinall 6-4 Danny Noppert
Ian White 6-3 Chris Dobey
Simon Whitlock 6-1 Peter Wright
Stephen Bunting 6-1 Andy Boulton
Martin Schindler 6-5 Boris Krcmar
Damon Heta 6-5 Ross Smith
Round Three
Gerwyn Price 6-2 Madars Razma
Mervyn King 6-4 Carl Wilkinson
Ricky Evans 6-4 Mensur Suljovic
Joe Cullen 6-5 Daryl Gurney
Nathan Aspinall 6-3 Jesus Noguera
Danny Noppert 6-4 Adam Hunt
Ian White 6-3 Ron Meulenkamp
Chris Dobey 6-3 Michael Smith
Peter Wright 6-5 Robert Thornton
Simon Whitlock 6-4 Steve Lennon
Stephen Bunting 6-3 James Wade
Andy Boulton 6-5 Ryan Searle
Boris Krcmar 6-5 Kim Huybrechts
Martin Schindler 6-5 Jose De Sousa
Damon Heta 6-1 Dimitri Van den Bergh
Ross Smith 6-5 Jermaine Wattimena
Round Two
Gerwyn Price 6-3 Matthew Edgar
Madars Razma 6-2 Jan Dekker
Mervyn King 6-2 Andy Hamilton
Carl Wilkinson 6-2 Wayne Jones
Mensur Suljovic 6-2 John Henderson
Ricky Evans 6-4 Steve Beaton
Daryl Gurney 6-3 Scott Taylor
Joe Cullen 6-3 Conan Whitehead
Nathan Aspinall 6-3 Mike De Decker
Jesus Noguera 6-4 David Pallett
Danny Noppert 6-0 Daniel Larsson
Adam Hunt 6-5 Ryan Murray
Ian White 6-5 Robert Collins
Ron Meulenkamp 6-2 Derk Telnekes
Michael Smith 6-1 William Borland
Chris Dobey 6-5 Jonny Clayton
Peter Wright 6-2 Ryan Meikle
Robert Thornton 6-3 Devon Petersen
Simon Whitlock 6-1 Dave Chisnall
Steve Lennon 6-3 Vincent van der Voort
James Wade 6-1 Arjan Konterman
Stephen Bunting 6-2 Christian Bunse
Andy Boulton 6-1 Glen Durrant
Ryan Searle 6-0 Scott Baker
Boris Krcmar 6-5 Jason Lowe
Kim Huybrechts 6-5 Reece Robinson
Jose De Sousa 6-4 Darren Webster
Martin Schindler 6-4 Vincent Van der Meer
Damon Heta 6-4 Michael van Gerwen
Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-5 Gavin Carlin
Ross Smith 6-5 Rob Cross
Jermaine Wattimena 6-4 Peter Jacques
Round One
Gerwyn Price 6-2 Richard North
Matthew Edgar 6-0 Gary Blades
Madars Razma 6-1 Matt Clark
Jan Dekker 6-3 Benito van de Pas
Mervyn King 6-5 Brendan Dolan
Andy Hamilton 6-1 Joe Murnan
Wayne Jones 6-4 Ryan Joyce
Carl Wilkinson 6-3 Maikel Verberk
Mensur Suljovic 6-0 Aaron Beeney
John Henderson 6-5 John Michael
Steve Beaton 6-2 Josh Payne
Ricky Evans 6-2 Andrew Gilding
Daryl Gurney 6-2 Yordi Meeuwisse
Scott Taylor 6-3 Bradley Brooks
Joe Cullen 6-2 Harald Leitinger
Conan Whitehead 6-4 Graham Usher
Nathan Aspinall 6-5 James Wilson
Mike De Decker 6-4 Justin Pipe
David Pallett 6-5 Steve West
Jesus Noguera 6-1 Mickey Mansell
Danny Noppert 6-3 Jamie Lewis
Daniel Larsson 6-5 Karel Sedlacek
Adam Hunt 6-2 Jeffrey De Zwaan
Ryan Murray 6-2 Barrie Bates
Ian White 6-0 Lisa Ashton
Robert Collins 6-2 William O’Connor
Derk Telnekes 6-3 Dirk van Duijvenbode
Ron Meulenkamp 6-4 Luke Woodhouse
Michael Smith 6-5 Keegan Brown
William Borland 6-1 Steffen Siepmann
Jonny Clayton 6-3 Max Hopp
Chris Dobey 6-2 Adrian Gray
Peter Wright 6-5 Jelle Klaasen
Ryan Meikle 6-2 Krzysztof Kciuk
Devon Petersen 6-1 Kai Fan Leung
Robert Thornton 6-3 Marko Kantele
Dave Chisnall 6-3 Darius Labanauskas
Simon Whitlock 6-5 Brian Raman
Steve Lennon 6-4 Gabriel Clemens
Vincent van der Voort 6-5 Harry Ward
James Wade 6-1 Justin Hood
Arjan Konterman 6-4 Nathan Derry
Stephen Bunting 6-1 Jeff Smith
Christian Bunse 6-3 Steve Brown
Glen Durrant 6-1 Martijn Kleermaker
Andy Boulton 6-2 Toni Alcinas
Ryan Searle 6-4 Maik Kuivenhoven
Scott Baker 6-0 Ryan Hogarth
Boris Krcmar 6-5 Krzysztof Ratajski
Jason Lowe 6-2 Jitse Van der Wal
Kim Huybrechts 6-3 Nick Kenny
Reece Robinson 6-4 Ted Evetts
Jose De Sousa 6-4 Alan Tabern
Darren Webster 6-4 Scott Mitchell
Martin Schindler 6-1 Jamie Hughes
Vincent Van der Meer 6-2 Geert Nentjes
Michael van Gerwen 6-2 Niels Zonneveld
Damon Heta 6-5 Scott Waites
Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-5 Adrian Lewis
Gavin Carlin 6-4 Kirk Shepherd
Rob Cross 6-5 Luke Humphries
Ross Smith 6-5 Rowby-John Rodriguez
Jermaine Wattimena 6-3 Callan Rydz
Peter Jacques 6-3 Mark McGeeney
