PHIL TAYLOR won the PartyPoker.net German Darts Championship title for a second time with an 11-4 win over Mervyn King in Halle.

Taylor, the 2007 champion, atoned for his loss to Co Stompe in last year’s decider by claiming his 22nd tournament win of the year and adding a further £20,000 to his prize winnings.

Taylor followed up his four wins on Saturday with a narrow 8-6 win over Adrian Lewis in a thrilling quarter-final, a 9-1 defeat of Paul Nicholson in the semis and a comprehensive defeat of King in the final.

Lewis led Taylor 3-1 in the last eight before the world number one reeled off five successive legs to pull clear, only for the youngster to level, including legs of 11 and ten darts.

Taylor, though, hit a ten-darter of his own to lead 7-6 before sealing the win, and improved on his 106 average with a 109 average in storming past Nicholson in the semis.

King hit an 11-darter in sharing the final’s opening two legs, and six of the next seven put him in command at 7-2.

King won a third, but three in a row moved Taylor to the brink of victory, which was sealed at 11-4.

“I’m delighted to have won this title back,” said Taylor. “It was disappointing to lose it last year but I treated it as a new tournament.

“I felt I was fortunate in a way to get past the last eight because Adrian Lewis was fantastic, and that took a little bit out of me. So to perform so well in the semis and then win the final is very pleasing.

“It’s a great warm-up for the World Championship and it was important for me, after winning the Grand Slam of Darts last week, to keep myself in a winning frame of mind.”

King had edged out Raymond van Barneveld 9-8 in the semi-finals and was also taken to a deciding leg against James Wade in the quarters.

Left-hander Wade led 4-2 and 6-4 before King took three successive 12-dart finishes with an 81 checkout to lead and then landed a key 180 in the deciding leg to seal victory.

World number two van Barneveld defeated Ronnie Baxter 8-5 in the quarter-finals, while Nicholson overcame Terry Jenkins 8-3, having led 6-0 following a superb start to the game.

King’s run to the final sees him jump above Jenkins into fifth place in the PDC Order of Merit, following the final ranking event before next month’s Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship.

“If someone had offered me the runner-up spot on Friday night I’d have snapped their arm off but it’s obviously disappointing to lose in the final,” said King.”

“I played some absolutely fabulous darts on Saturday and the quarter-final was a fantastic game against James.

“The semi-finals and final saw my performances get worse as I went but I’ll take the positives from yesterday’s games and the quarter-final, and forget about the semi-final and final!

“Phil was in command of the final right the way through despite how hard I tried, and I can only applaud him.

“I’m going on holiday to Egypt for a week now – but I will be finding a dartboard and practising to make sure I’m ready for the World Championship.”

Had Nicholson reached the final, he would have broken into the world’s top 32 for the first time, but will now compete as a Players Championship Order of Merit Qualifier at Alexandra Palace.

Roland Scholten holds on to 32nd in the PDC Order of Merit, while Andree Welge, Mensur Suljovic, Dylan Duo and Jyhan Artut qualify via the European Order of Merit to play in the World Championship.

The First Round draw for the Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship will be made on Monday December 7, and shown live on Sky Sports News in the UK.

 

The Preliminary Round draw was made in Halle between the semi-finals and final on Sunday, and was as follows:

Per Laursen (Denmark) v Christian Perez (Philippines)

Ken MacNeil (Canada) v Norman Madhoo (Guyana)

Jarkko Komula (Finland) v Roman Konchikov (Russia)

Haruki Muramatsu (Japan) v Kryzsztof Kcuik  (Poland)

Tomas Seyler (Germany) v Chinese Qualifier

Magnus Caris (Sweden) v Francisco Ruiz (Spain)

Aodhagan O’Neill (Ireland) v Les Francis (South Africa)

Phillip Hazel (New Zealand) v Osmann Kijamet (Slovenia)

German Darts Championship
Quarter-Finals

Phil Taylor 8-6 Adrian Lewis

Paul Nicholson 8-3 Terry Jenkins

Raymond van Barneveld 8-5 Ronnie Baxter

Mervyn King 8-7 James Wade

Losers £3,000

 

Semi-Finals

Phil Taylor 9-1 Paul Nicholson

Mervyn King 9-8 Raymond van Barneveld

Losers £5,000

 

Final

Phil Taylor 11-4 Mervyn King

Winner £20,000
Runner-Up £10,000