Dirk van Duijvenbode produced some spellbinding darts to take home his second PDC Pro Tour title of 2022.

The Aubergenius’ hit four consecutive ton plus averages after the last 32, eventually whitewashing Gabriel Clemens 8-0 to win Players Championship 18 and claim his third title overall in the PDC.

For Clemens, the wait goes on for his first tournament win, however not many could have lived with the darts Van Duijvenbode threw at the Barnsley Metrodome today.

Elsewhere, runs from two players saw the Betfred World Matchplay qualification race turn dramatically, with the field now realistically playing for one last spot at the Winter Gardens.

Genius from the Aubergenius sees Dutchman to victory

Van Duijvenbode produced wins against Connor Scutt, Ritchie Edhouse and Chris Dobey to win his board. He then produced three ton plus averages of 107.58, 105.44 and 102.25 against Peter Wright, Luke Humphries and Adrian Lewis respectively to book a place in his second floor final of the year.

Clemens beat Adam Hunt, Gordon Mathers and Geert Nentjes to make the last 16. Victories against Ryan Meikle and Daryl Gurney got him to the semi final. He had multiple match darts, but eventually came through 7-6 against Nathan Aspinall to reach his fifth floor final.

The Aubergenius continued where he left off throughout the day, holding in the first leg, before breaking to go 2-0 in front. After holding again, he punished a missed 130 outshot from Clemens to clean up 25 and go halfway to the win.

The Titan held again for 5-0, before a stunning 122 finish moved him 6-0 in front. The German Giant missed chances to get one break back in the seventh leg, but missed them. Van Duijvenbode eventually cleaned up 47 to move one away, and despite missing one match dart, eventually cleaned up 18 on double four to seal a memorable win, averaging over 100 again.

What else happened at the PDC Pro Tour?

Despite losing in the last four, Lewis’ run all but secured him a place in the 2022 Betfred World Matchplay. Wins over Keane Barry, Luc Peters and Danny van Trijp saw Jackpot win his board. He then beat Mickey Mansell and Andrew Gilding to reach his second Pro Tour semi final of the season, before falling to Van Duijvenbode.

Aspinall beat Jake Jones, Darren Webster and Madars Razma to reach the last 16. He followed it up with victories against Joe Cullen and Dave Chisnall, before falling to Clemens in a last leg decider.

Gilding also will not mind too much losing in the last eight to Lewis. His run at Players Championship 18 also all but booked his return to the Winter Gardens for the first time since 2015.

The rest of the field are now essentially playing for one place. Rowby-John Rodriguez overtook Ross Smith for that place on countback after day one.

Ricky Evans drops to 18th after going out in round one, while Simon Whitlock’s third round place saw him move back into contention.

View the race to qualify for the Betfred World Matchplay here.

View all the results from Players Championship 18 on the PDC Pro Tour here.