Michael van Gerwen scooped the £12,000 top prize for his first Players Championship win since April last year; the Dutchman defeated reigning junior world champion Josh Rock 8-4 in the final
Michael van Gerwen defeated Josh Rock in the final of the Players Championship 7 on Sunday
Michael van Gerwen clinched his first ranking title of 2023 by defeating Josh Rock 8-4 in the 7 Players Championship final on Sunday in Hildesheim.
World number 3 Van Gerwen kicked off the ProTour double header in Germany by taking the £12,000 top prize for a first Players Championship win since April last year.
Except for the UK Open a fortnight ago, where Van Gerwen finished as runner-up, he hadn’t made it past the quarterfinals in a ranking event this year.
The 33-year-old, a three-night winner of the Cazoo Premier League so far in 2023, defeated World Youth Champion Rock in the final to claim his first ranking win of the year.
“I had to work very hard,” Van Gerwen admitted. “I have six gears but I won it in fourth today.
“I wasn’t playing well most of the day, but the games where I had to play well, to beat Dirk [van Duijvenbode 6-4] in the quarterfinals I played very well there, and against Josh in the final, I did it.
“That gives you confidence and it gives you pleasure, but I wasn’t very good today. Of course I want to play better, but I did it when I had to.”
Josh Rock defeated Premier League star Dimitri Van den Bergh and Poland’s Krzysztof Ratajski in the quarterfinals and semifinals respectively.
Van Gerwen edged out Jacques Labre, Keegan Brown, Martin Lukeman and Boris Krcmar for the loss of just seven matches to book his place in the quarter-finals.
There, he produced his highest average of the day at 104.95 in an excellent 6-4 win over Dutch rival Van Duijvenbode, before beating another former junior world champion Bradley Brooks by a two-match margin in the semi-finals.
In the final, reigning junior champion Rock took the first leg before Van Gerwen won five of the next six to advance 5-2.
Rock cut the gap to 5-4, but the Dutchman’s 11 and 12-darter legs pushed him further at 7-4 before wrapping up the title.
Van Gerwen added: “These are long days, very long days. At this stage of my life, every tournament I compete in I want to win and it gets harder.”
“If you look at floor tournaments nowadays, there are no easy games anymore so I have to fight for every game, but overall I’m satisfied with my win and that’s really important.
“A lot has changed, everyone can play a 100 average, that’s how good the tour is at the moment, that’s why you need to focus.”
It was also runner-up Rock’s best run in a ranking event this year by reaching the final, as the Northern Irishman looked to emulate his 2022 Players Championship 28 victory.
The youngster produced averages of over three tonnes on the day, against Luke Woodhouse, Brendan Dolan and Mario Vandenbogaerde, and knocked out Premier League star Dimitri Van den Bergh and Poland’s Krzysztof Ratajski in the quarter-finals and semi-finals respectively.
