What a huge day for Chris Dobey!

The Team Unicorn star has made absolutely certain of his place at the World Championship after his best performance for seven months.

The 28-year-old reached the final of Players Championship 21 in Barnsley on Saturday. Unfortunately he lost 6-2 to Krzysztof Ratajski in the final but it was great to see Dobey playing the darts we all know he can once again.

In other Team Unicorn news, Michael Smith has equalled his career high in the World rankings. He is now back up to No.7 in the PDC Order of Merit after reaching the last 16 in Barnsley. He lost in a last leg decider to Stephen Bunting but his rise up the rankings continues.

Dimitri van den Bergh has endured a disappointing year on the Pro Tour, but he should have done enough to clinch his World Championship spot with a run to the last 16 on Saturday. He eventually went down 6-1 to William O’Connor.

Gary Anderson averaged 110 and 109 in beating Ryan Searle and Jamie Hughes but was left kicking himself after missed chances saw him lose a last leg decider to Ricky Evans in round three.

And there was an encouraging run to the last 16 for Unicorn youngster Adam Hunt, before he lost 6-3 to German Martin Schindler.

But for Dobey a terrific day and he won three out his first four matches in last leg deciders against John Norman Jnr, Bradley Brooks and John Henderson en route to the quarter-finals.

There he saw off Bunting 6-2 and followed that with a 6-4 semi-final success over Schindler.

In the final he was two legs up against Ratajski but the Polish star found his form and reeled off six straight legs to claim his second Pro Tour win of the year. Ratajski was 1-5 down to Steve Beaton before he stormed back to win their semi-final 6-5.

For Dobey, it’s a second Pro Tour Final of 2018 and although he couldn’t finish the job, there are encouraging signs of a return to form.

Meanwhile it’s congratulations to another Team Unicorn star.....Keegan Brown has won through the qualifiers for the World Series Finals to be staged in Vienna in a fortnight.

By STUART PYKE

Photo courtesy PDC

Posted in Unicorn Darts