Wade claimed the £25,000 first prize at the Inselparkhalle with a classy weekend of darts, bouncing back in style from missing out on the Betway Premier League Play-Offs to pick up his first ranking title of 2016.

The left-hander had overcome a scare in Saturday’s second round tie with Welshman Jonny Clayton before disposing of World Champion Gary Anderson in the third round on Sunday afternoon. He then edged past young Dutchman Benito van de Pas 6-5 in the quarter-finals before ending Michael van Gerwen’s bid to win a fourth successive European Tour event of 2016 in the last four – becoming the first player to defeat the world number one this year in this series.

The opening two legs of the final against Chisnall were shared before Wade clinically won the next three without reply with finishes of 70, 64 and 118 to move 4-1 up. Chisnall then took out 140, 127 and 78 – on the bull – as he won four of the next five to take the game to a decider, but he missed tops for victory to allow Wade in, and the left-hander took out 82 by hitting tops himself as he took glory.

Wade’s previous European Tour win had come in Gibraltar in 2014, and he admitted: “It’s a lovely feeling – I don’t win often enough now so it means a lot to me when I do. “I believe I’ve played solid darts all weekend. I rode my luck but I proved that it’s not all always about hitting big averages but hitting crucial shots at the right time. I’m very fortunate that Dave missed the double top and my one dart went in.

“That might be the most important double top I’ve ever thrown, and I believe that in the next three to four months I can be dangerous.” The defeat saw Chisnall finish as the runner-up for a second successive weekend on the European Tour, after last Sunday’s loss in the decider to van Gerwen, although the St Helens ace picked up another £10,000 in prize money for his efforts.

Chisnall saw off Ron Meulenkamp and John Henderson to reach the quarter-finals, where he overcame tricky Austrian Mensur Suljovic 6-4 before seeing off Peter Wright 6-3 in the last four. “I can take a lot of positives from this,” said Chisnall. “I played well all day but I started too slowly. I got back into it but missed my chance and James deserved to win.”

Wright produced some superb darts during his run to the last four – including a sublime 160 checkout during his quarter-final win over Max Hopp – before losing out to Chisnall. Van Gerwen’s bid to continue his European Tour winning streak was ended by Wade in the semi-finals, but the world number one had produced some fine darts to defeat Daryl Gurney in the third round and Jelle Klaasen, in a high-quality quarter-final.

The tournament also saw Germany’s Max Hopp win through to a European Tour quarter-final for the first time, as the reigning PDC Unicorn World Youth Champion defeated Joe Murnan, Ian White and Terry Jenkins to delight a capacity Hamburg crowd.

The youngster eventually lost out to Wright, but continues his climb towards a place in the world’s top 40 after picking up £3,500 as he lost out in the last eight alongside Austria’s Mensur Suljovic and Dutch duo Benito van de Pas and Jelle Klaasen, who both lost in a deciding 11th leg.

The next PDC European Tour event will be the Austrian Darts Open in Vienna from June 10-12. Tickets are available via www.pdc-europe.tv.

HappyBet European Darts Matchplay
Sunday May 15
Afternoon Session (1pm-5pm local time, 12pm-4pm BST)
Third Round
89.57 Michael Smith 5-6 Mensur Suljovic 91.53
100.87 Dave Chisnall 6-4 John Henderson 89.61
95.98 Max Hopp 6-3 Terry Jenkins 90.23
99.89 Peter Wright 6-3 Jamie Caven 91.08
100.92 James Wade 6-2 Gary Anderson 96.73
89.57 Vincent van der Voort 3-6 Benito van de Pas 93.44
86.51 Adrian Lewis 4-6 Jelle Klaasen 89.79
101.76 Michael van Gerwen 6-4 Daryl Gurney 92.91

Evening Session (7pm-11pm local time, 6pm-10pm BST)
Quarter-Finals 
98.09 Mensur Suljovic 4-6 Dave Chisnall 101.13
94.20 Max Hopp 4-6 Peter Wright 96.27
90.79 James Wade 6-5 Benito van de Pas 96.04
100.43 Jelle Klaasen 5-6 Michael van Gerwen 106.76

Semi-Finals
93.81 Dave Chisnall 6-3 Peter Wright 86.30
95.03 James Wade 6-2 Michael van Gerwen 97.19

Final
93.55 Dave Chisnall 5-6 James Wade 92.71

HappyBet European Darts Matchplay Results

Friday May 13th – First Round

Afternoon Session (1pm-5pm local time, 12pm-4pm BST)
First Round x8
87.70 Mike De Decker 6-3 Darren Johnson 86.61
87.58 Darren Webster 6-1 Jonathan Worsley 75.68
87.36 Max Hopp 6-5 Joe Murnan 91.76
88.27 Richie Corner 5-6 Alan Norris 88.13
84.44 Cristo Reyes 3-6 Magnus Caris 84.14
80.95 Rene Eidams 6-4 Ricky Williams 81.22
85.91 Michel van der Horst 4-6 Rowby-John Rodriguez 86.82
85.75 Remco van Eijden 6-1 Andrew Gilding 81.70

Evening Session (7pm-11pm local time, 6pm-10pm BST)
First Round x8
89.22 Ron Meulenkamp 6-5 Joe Cullen 90.92
94.79 Josh Payne 5-6 Jamie Caven 96.15
84.14 John Henderson 6-5 Mark Webster 93.73
84.94 Jyhan Artut 4-6 Chris Dobey 85.91
78.98 Jamie Robinson 2-6 Vincent van der Voort 87.93
86.48 Kevin Painter 4-6 Daryl Gurney 87.70
81.97 Andree Welge 3-6 Maik Langendorf 82.88
91.78 Jonny Clayton 6-3 Devon Petersen 90.96

Saturday May 14th – Second Round

Afternoon Session (1pm-5pm local time, 12pm-4pm BST)
Second Round x8
92.05 Terry Jenkins (10) 6-1 Magnus Caris 85.67
107.35 Benito van de Pas (12) 6-3 Alan Norris 98.79
90.15 Simon Whitlock (15) 3-6 Jamie Caven 96.07
82.99 Ian White (7) 2-6 Max Hopp 89.60
85.63 Robert Thornton (11) 4-6 John Henderson 91.28
95.94 Mensur Suljovic (14) 6-0 Mike De Decker 84.24
97.40 Jelle Klaasen (9) 6-5 Chris Dobey 92.94
99.05 Mervyn King (16) 3-6 Daryl Gurney 104.25

Evening Session (7pm-11pm local time, 6pm-10pm BST)
Second Round x8
100.63 Dave Chisnall (6) 6-2 Ron Meulenkamp 92.64
85.68 Kim Huybrechts (5) 2-6 Vincent van der Voort 92.00
91.58 Michael Smith (3) 6-1 Rowby-John Rodriguez 78.00
90.43 Adrian Lewis (8) 6-4 Rene Eidams 84.47
99.31 Peter Wright (2) 6-5 Darren Webster 93.58
100.88 James Wade (4) 6-4 Jonny Clayton 98.33
90.70 Gary Anderson (13) 6-3 Maik Langendorf 87.21
98.78 Michael van Gerwen (1) 6-2 Remco van Eijden 89.34