Michael Smith took home his second straight title on day two of the PDC Winter Series.

After winning yesterday’s event, he faced the man he beat in the semi finals 24 hours ago in Jose De Sousa, winning a classic final 8-7 at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry.

It means that Bully Boy has now won 12 PDC titles, and is still undefeated at the event. He’s also now stormed clear at the top of the event’s Order of Merit.

Elsewhere, day two of the Winter Series saw:

• good runs from Vincent van der Voort and Brendan Dolan to keep in the race for the Grand Slam
• two nine darters
• more players getting in the race to qualify for the Players Championship Finals
• a host of big names go out in the first round

Bully Boy battles again to clinch victory

After winning his first title in over two years yesterday, Smith look determined to continue that winning streak on day two of the Winter Series. He won 6-3 and 6-1 against Derk Telnekes and Matthew Dennant to set up a board final against Damon Heta. There, the two played an outstanding game in which both averaged over 105. However, it would be Smith who would win the board, coming through 6-3.

This seemed to give the Bully Boy even more of a spark. After winning 6-2 against Dirk van Duijvenbode, he faced Gabriel Clemens in the last eight. Clemens had averaged 112 twice during the day, with his lowest average being 105.9 prior to the meeting with Smith. However, the German Giant was powerless to stop Smith’s scoring, as the Bully Boy hit a 109.9 average in a 6-1 demolition of Clemens.

A routine 7-3 win over Vincent van der Voort in the semi final set up a meeting with De Sousa, who Smith had conquered yesterday to reach the final. Like yesterday, The Special One started brightly, winning three legs in 35 darts to take a 4-1 lead, echoing his stunning performance against Joe Cullen in the semi final in which he averaged 110.5.

However, De Sousa missed three darts to win the sixth leg, and then bust his score, allowing Bully Boy to hit the 65 he needed to hold throw and trail 4-2. De Sousa then lost his scoring power, and Smith took advantage, reeling off three straight legs to go ahead in the contest at 5-4.

De Sousa would not relent though, and went back ahead 6-5, only for Smith to win two straight legs himself and go ahead 7-6. The Special one would level at 7-7, meaning a last leg decider in one of the best finals of recent memory. There, De Sousa missed tops for a 120 and his fourth PDC title, and Smith sealed the deal on his favourite double 10 to win a classic 8-7 and secure his 12th PDC title.

What else happened?

Joe Cullen and Vincent van der Voort made the semi finals on day two of the PDC Winter Series. For Van der Voort, it represents a solid start to the event, having made the quarter finals yesterday. He is now just over £1,000 behind Jermaine Wattimena in the race to take a Grand Slam of Darts spot on the Order of Merit. Cullen does not have to worry about this, having already qualified thanks to his Euro Tour win last month.

Brendan Dolan made the last eight of the event, and he is now level with Van der Voort in the race to try and catch Jermaine Wattimena.

Jeffrey De Zwaan’s run to the quarter finals saw him secure his place in the Players Championship Finals. He now has over £10,000 on the Order of Merit, which will be enough to secure a place in Coventry.

Ryan Meikle also made the quarter finals to move back into the qualification spots, while Darius Labanauskas’ last eight run sees him just £250 outside the top 64.

Elsewhere, we had two nine darts during the day. Andy Hamilton hit one in his first round win over Christian Bunse, while Rowby-John Rodriguez hit one minutes later in his second round victory over Boris Krcmar.

Finally, a number of big names made first round exits today. These included:

• Peter Wright
• Nathan Aspinall
• Glen Durrant
• Krzysztof Ratajski
• Devon Petersen
• Ian White

Day Two Results

Final

Michael Smith 8-7 Jose De Sousa

Semi final

Michael Smith 7-3 Vincent van der Voort

Jose De Sousa 7-2 Joe Cullen

Quarter final

Michael Smith 6-1 Gabriel Clemens

Vincent van der Voort 6-0 Darius Labanauskas

Joe Cullen 6-3 Brendan Dolan

Jose De Sousa 6-5 Jeffrey De Zwaan

Round four

Gabriel Clemens 6-3 Ryan Joyce

Michael Smith 6-2 Dirk van Duijvenbode

Vincent van der Voort 6-4 Justin Pipe

Darius Labanauskas 6-5 Krzysztof Kciuk

Brendan Dolan 6-5 Ryan Meikle

Joe Cullen 6-4 Mickey Mansell

Jeffrey De Zwaan 6-5 Keane Barry

Jose De Sousa 6-2 Danny Noppert

Round Three

Ryan Joyce 6-1 Gerwyn Price

Gabriel Clemens 6-1 Jamie Hughes

Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-5 Rowby-John Rodriguez

Michael Smith 6-3 Damon Heta

Vincent van der Voort 6-2 James Wade

Justin Pipe 6-5 Rob Cross

Krzysztof Kciuk 6-4 Martijn Kleermaker

Darius Labanauskas 6-1 Luke Woodhouse

Ryan Meikle 6-2 Steve Lennon

Brendan Dolan 6-5 Daryl Gurney

Joe Cullen 6-3 Ross Smith

Mickey Mansell 6-5 Ricky Evans

Keane Barry 6-2 Mike De Decker

Jeffrey De Zwaan 6-1 Mervyn King

Jose De Sousa 6-1 Bradley Brooks

Danny Noppert 6-5 Callan Rydz

Round Two

Gerwyn Price 6-5 Scott Mitchell

Ryan Joyce 6-4 Ryan Murray

Gabriel Clemens 6-3 Peter Jacques

Jamie Hughes 6-4 William O’Connor

Rowby-John Rodriguez 6-4 Boris Krcmar

Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-2 Kevin Doets

Michael Smith 6-1 Matthew Dennant

Damon Heta 6-1 James Wilson

James Wade 6-3 Adrian Lewis

Vincent van der Voort 5-3 Jeff Smith

Rob Cross 6-3 Jan Dekker

Justin Pipe 6-3 Max Hopp

Krzysztof Kciuk 6-0 John Michael

Martijn Kleermaker 6-5 Aaron Beeney

Luke Woodhouse 6-5 Steve West

Darius Labanauskas 6-3 Jonny Clayton

Ryan Meikle 6-3 Kai Fan Leung

Steve Lennon 6-2 Scott Taylor

Brendan Dolan 6-2 Darren Webster

Daryl Gurney 6-4 Jesus Noguera

Joe Cullen 6-0 Andy Boulton

Ross Smith 6-4 Gavin Carlin

Mickey Mansell 6-4 Robert Collins

Ricky Evans 6-4 Jermaine Wattimena

Keane Barry 6-1 Jitse Van der Wal

Mike De Decker 6-3 Richard North

Jeffrey De Zwaan 6-5 Ron Meulenkamp

Mervyn King 6-3 Kim Huybrechts

Jose De Sousa 6-5 Adam Hunt

Bradley Brooks 6-3 Andy Hamilton

Danny Noppert 6-3 Robert Thornton

Callan Rydz 6-1 Stephen Bunting

Round One

Scott Mitchell 6-2 Jim Williams

Ryan Joyce 6-2 Keegan Brown

Ryan Murray 6-2 Niels Zonneveld

Gabriel Clemens 6-4 Matt Clark

Peter Jacques 6-5 Luke Humphries

Jamie Hughes 6-0 Matthew Edgar

William O’Connor 6-1 Harald Leitinger

Rowby-John Rodriguez 6-3 Devon Petersen

Boris Krcmar 6-4 Scott Baker

Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-1 David Evans

Kevin Doets 6-3 Ted Evetts 

Michael Smith 6-3 Derk Telnekes

Matthew Dennant 6-5 Benito van de Pas

Damon Heta 6-0 Steve Brown

James Wilson 6-3 Martin Atkins (Wigan)

James Wade 6-1 Yordi Meeuwisse

Adrian Lewis 6-2 Marko Kantele

Vincent van der Voort 6-1 David Pallett

Jeff Smith 6-2 Josh Payne

Rob Cross 6-5 Dimitri Van den Bergh

Jan Dekker 6-5 Maikel Verberk

Justin Pipe 6-4 Ryan Searle

Max Hopp 6-4 Carl Wilkinson

John Michael 6-5 Krzysztof Ratajski

Krzysztof Kciuk 6-0 John Henderson

Martijn Kleermaker 6-5 Barrie Bates

Aaron Beeney 6-4 Michael Barnard

Steve West 6-5 Glen Durrant

Luke Woodhouse 6-5 Karel Sedlacek

Jonny Clayton 6-3 Conan Whitehead

Darius Labanauskas 6-5 Darren Penhall

Kai Fan Leung 6-5 Peter Wright

Ryan Meikle 6-2 Daniel Larsson

Scott Taylor 6-3 Chris Dobey

Steve Lennon 6-2 Jonathan Worsley

Brendan Dolan 6-3 Gary Blades

Darren Webster 6-0 Mark McGeeney

Daryl Gurney 6-2 Ritchie Edhouse

Jesus Noguera 6-3 Martin Schindler 

Joe Cullen 6-5 Kirk Shepherd

Andy Boulton 6-3 Jelle Klaasen

Ross Smith 6-5 Joe Murnan

Gavin Carlin 6-2 Ciaran Teehan

Mickey Mansell 6-4 Ian White

Robert Collins 6-3 Simon Stevenson

Jermaine Wattimena 6-1 Reece Robinson

Ricky Evans 6-3 Nick Kenny 

Jitse Van der Wal 6-0 Nathan Aspinall

Keane Barry 6-0 Adrian Gray

Mike De Decker 6-4 Maik Kuivenhoven

Richard North 6-5 William Borland

Jeffrey De Zwaan 6-4 Dave Chisnall

Ron Meulenkamp 6-4 Wayne Jones

Mervyn King 6-2 Alan Tabern

Kim Huybrechts 6-3 Toni Alcinas

Jose De Sousa 6-2 Jason Lowe

Adam Hunt 6-0 Steve Beaton

Bradley Brooks 6-4 Madars Razma

Andy Hamilton 6-5 Christian Bunse

Danny Noppert 6-3 Richie Burnett

Robert Thornton 6-4 Lisa Ashton

Stephen Bunting 6-5 Simon Whitlock

Callan Rydz 6-2 Scott Waites

 

Gerwyn Price received a bye into round two, as Gary Anderson withdrew with a knee injury.