Peter Wright defeated Madars Razma 8-1 to win day one of the PDC Autumn Series.

It was Snakebite’s second successive Pro Tour title, after claiming victory on the final day of the Summer Series in July.

However, despite losing in the final, it was an excellent day for Razma. After being one game away from a World Series of Darts Finals place on Friday, he backed it up today with a run to his second PDC ranking final. It also saw him go into the World Grand Prix qualification places, replacing Steve Beaton.

Elsewhere on day one of the PDC Autumn Series:

  • Devon Petersen and Michael van Gerwen made semi finals
  • Mervyn King and Martijn Kleermaker made moves towards the Grand Prix qualification places
  • Lisa Ashton made the first board final of her PDC career
Peter Wright comfortably won day one of the PDC Autumn Series

Wright goes 14 unbeaten in Pro Tour competition

It was a largely scare free day for Snakebite, who was looking to follow up his second place finsih in the league phase of the Premier League by winning the first title on offer in Niederhausen, Germany.

In what looked a tricky first round tie on paper, he easily put aside Callum Rydz 6-2 in round one. He then defeated Graham Usher by the same scoreline in round two, and then the World Matchplay champion, and lockdown lodger Dimitri Van den Bergh, by the same scoreline in round three to win his board.

Wright averaged 99 for two of those games, and averaged 99 in his next two games. He won 6-1 against Boris Krcmar, before whitewashing Premier League league phase champion Glen Durrant 6-0.

That set up a mouth watering semi final against Michael van Gerwen, who had changed back to his old darts and was looking imperious throughout the day. In a high quality affair, Wright was 5-2 down, despite averaging 115 at one stage. However, he fought back hard, eventually coming through 7-6 in a last leg decider with a 109 average.

That set him up perfectly against a surprise finalist in Razma, and he hardly broke sweat. He won four legs on the spin to start with, and despite the Latvian getting one leg on the board, Snakebite powered on to claim another four legs on the spin for an 8-1 victory. It’s the first time he’s won two straight Pro Tours in nearly two years.

Razma reaches second PDC final

Madars Razma was quoted at 400/1 to win the title today by some bookmakers to win Players Championship 14, but surprised everyone with a fantastic run to the final.

After making the final round of the World Series qualifier yesterday, the Latvian continued his good form with a 6-3 victory over Steve Lennon in round one. He then beat Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-2 in the second round, before winning his board with a 6-4 victory against Ian White.

Razma then continued on a fairytale run, beating Karel Sedlacek in the top 16, and demolishing Jelle Klaasen 6-1 in the quarter finals. This meant he’d face Devon Petersen in the semi final, who was desperate to make his first ever PDC ranking final. In what was a topsy turvy game, Razma missed two darts for the match in the 12th leg, leaving Petersen to level up at 6-6. Petersen then missed a bull for the match in the 13th leg, allowing Razma to find a 78 outshot to win an absolute scrap of a semi final, and reach the World Grand Prix qualification places in the process.

The semi final win seemed to take a lot out of Razma. He could not get going in the final against the World Champion, but has put himself in a great position to reach the Grand Prix for the first time in his career.

Madars Razma missed out on his first ever PDC ranking title. Credit: Lawrence Lustig/PDC

What else happened?

Both Devon Petersen and Michael van Gerwen made important semi finals for different reasons. For Petersen, that takes him onto £17,000, £3,000 away from £20,000 on the Order of Merit and potentially securing his World Grand Prix place. For MvG, it was the first time he’d thrown with his old darts, and looked unplayable at times throughout the day. He took out big finishes, and the darts seemed to group better for him, which could give him confidence for the rest of the week.

Elsewhere, Jesus Noguera produced a quarter final run, following up a good run at the World Series qualifier yesterday. Simon Whitlock and Mervyn King made the top 16, while Martijn Kleermaker made the last 32, putting themselves right back in the qualification race for the Grand Prix. It was a good day for the three as:

  • Chris Dobey
  • Steve Beaton
  • Jeff Smith
  • Jonny Clayton

All lost in the first round. It means that Beaton drops out of the qualification places on countback, with Dobey on the same prize money of £14,000. It tightens up the race, and players know that they will need one good day at least this week to get themselves to the Grand Prix.

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.

Finally, Carl Wilkinson hit a perfect leg. He hit the nine darter in his first round match against Joe Cullen, but he lost 6-5.

How can I follow day two of the Autumn Series?

We’ll have day two, 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 One Results

Final

Peter Wright 8-1 Madars Razma

Semi Finals

Madars Razma 7-6 Devon Petersen

Peter Wright 7-6 Michael van Gerwen

Quarter Finals

Devon Petersen 6-5 Jesus Noguera

Madars Razma 6-1 Jelle Klaasen

Peter Wright 6-0 Glen Durrant

Krzysztof Ratajski 6-2 Michael van Gerwen

Round Four

Devon Petersen 6-3 Simon Whitlock

Jesus Noguera 6-4 Scott Waites

Jelle Klaasen 6-4 Vincent van der Voort

Madars Razma 6-2 Karel Sedlacek

Peter Wright 6-1 Boris Krcmar

Glen Durrant 6-2 Mervyn King

Krzysztof Ratajski 6-4 Jose De Sousa

Michael van Gerwen 6-5 William Borland

Round Three

Devon Petersen 6-2 Gerwyn Price

Simon Whitlock 6-4 Josh Payne

Jesus Noguera 6-3 Mensur Suljovic

Scott Waites 6-3 Daryl Gurney

Jelle Klaasen 6-4 Nathan Aspinall

Vincent van der Voort 6-4 Danny Noppert

Madars Razma 6-4 Ian White

Karel Sedlacek 6-1 Luke Woodhouse

Peter Wright 6-2 Dimitri Van den Bergh

Boris Krcmar 6-1 Dave Chisnall

Mervyn King 6-5 Adrian Gray

Glen Durrant 6-0 Jeffrey De Zwaan

Krzysztof Ratajski 6-4 Martijn Kleermaker

Jose De Sousa 6-3 Jan Dekker

Michael van Gerwen 6-3 Stephen Bunting

William Borland 6-5 Lisa Ashton

Round Two

Gerwyn Price 6-5 Scott Mitchell

Devon Petersen 6-3 Andrew Gilding

Simon Whitlock 6-1 Richard North

Josh Payne 6-1 Martin Schindler

Mensur Suljovic 6-4 Harry Ward

Jesus Noguera 6-1 Ross Smith

Daryl Gurney 6-3 Wayne Jones

Scott Waites 6-2 Joe Cullen

Nathan Aspinall 6-4 Andy Boulton

Jelle Klaasen 6-5 Steve West

Danny Noppert 6-3 Robert Thornton

Vincent van der Voort 6-2 Maikel Verberk

Ian White 6-3 Kirk Shepherd

Madars Razma 6-2 Dirk van Duijvenbode

Karel Sedlacek 6-3 Rob Cross

Luke Woodhouse 6-4 Matthew Edgar

Peter Wright 6-2 Graham Usher

Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-1 Keegan Brown

Dave Chisnall 6-3 William O’Connor

Boris Krcmar 6-5 Gabriel Clemens

Adrian Gray 6-4 James Wade

Mervyn King 6-4 Ryan Murray

Glen Durrant 6-1 Yordi Meeuwisse

Jeffrey De Zwaan 6-2 Benito van de Pas

Krzysztof Ratajski 6-3 Derk Telnekes

Martijn Kleermaker 6-5 Kim Huybrechts

Jose De Sousa 6-4 Reece Robinson

Jan Dekker 6-5 Jitse Van der Wal

Michael van Gerwen 6-2 Luke Humphries

Stephen Bunting 6-4 Ted Evetts

Lisa Ashton 6-3 Ron Meulenkamp

William Borland 6-2 Ryan Searle

Round One

Gerwyn Price 6-2 Mickey Mansell

Scott Mitchell 6-5 Brian Raman

Devon Petersen 6-4 Kai Fan Leung

Andrew Gilding 6-5 Jason Lowe

Richard North 6-5 Brendan Dolan

Simon Whitlock 6-3 Niels Zonneveld

Josh Payne 6-3 Ryan Joyce

Martin Schindler 6-2 Bradley Brooks

Mensur Suljovic 6-1 Joe Murnan

Harry Ward 6-5 Steffen Siepmann

Jesus Noguera 6-5 Steve Beaton

Ross Smith 6-4 Maik Kuivenhoven

Daryl Gurney 6-2 Gavin Carlin

Wayne Jones 6-5 Alan Tabern

Joe Cullen 6-5 Carl Wilkinson

Scott Waites 6-1 Nick Kenny

Nathan Aspinall 6-1 Mark McGeeney

Andy Boulton 6-5 Ryan Meikle

Steve West 6-5 Andy Hamilton

Jelle Klaasen 6-5 Justin Pipe

Danny Noppert 6-2 Peter Jacques

Robert Thornton 6-2 Justin Hood

Vincent van der Voort 6-3 Jonny Clayton

Maikel Verberk 6-3 Scott Baker

Ian White 6-3 Christian Bunse

Kirk Shepherd 6-5 David Pallett

Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-3 Mike De Decker

Madars Razma 6-3 Steve Lennon

Rob Cross 6-5 Marko Kantele

Karel Sedlacek 6-2 Steve Brown

Luke Woodhouse 6-5 Jermaine Wattimena

Matthew Edgar 6-3 Nathan Derry

Peter Wright 6-2 Callan Rydz

Graham Usher 6-4 Rowby-John Rodriguez

Keegan Brown 6-4 Max Hopp

Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-1 Barrie Bates

Dave Chisnall 6-5 Jamie Lewis

William O’Connor 6-0 Ryan Hogarth

Gabriel Clemens 6-4 Darren Webster

Boris Krcmar 6-1 Geert Nentjes

James Wade 6-5 Scott Taylor

Adrian Gray 6-3 Robert Collins

Mervyn King 6-5 Adrian Lewis

Ryan Murray 6-3 Harald Leitinger

Glen Durrant 6-1 Aaron Beeney

Yordi Meeuwisse 6-0 Gary Blades

Jeffrey De Zwaan 6-4 Vincent Van der Meer

Benito van de Pas 6-2 Conan Whitehead

Krzysztof Ratajski 6-3 John Henderson

Derk Telnekes 6-2 James Wilson

Kim Huybrechts 6-5 Chris Dobey

Martijn Kleermaker 6-3 Daniel Larsson

Jose De Sousa 6-2 Damon Heta

Reece Robinson 6-4 Darius Labanauskas

Jitse Van der Wal 6-5 Jamie Hughes

Jan Dekker 6-2 Adam Hunt

Michael van Gerwen 6-4 Krzysztof Kciuk

Luke Humphries 6-1 Ricky Evans

Stephen Bunting 6-3 Jeff Smith

Ted Evetts 6-5 Toni Alcinas

Lisa Ashton 6-4 Michael Smith

Ron Meulenkamp 6-4 John Michael

Ryan Searle 6-2 Arjan Konterman

William Borland 1-6 Matt Clark