Six of the best: Wessel Nijman adds another Players Championship crown to his 2026 haul

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Six of the best: Wessel Nijman adds another Players Championship crown to his 2026 haul originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Wessel Nijman continued his incredible run of form on Tuesday by picking up a sixth Players Championship title of the year, after defeating Ryan Searle 8-6 in the final of Players Championship 21, as the Pro Tour double header commenced at Wigan’s Robin Park Leisure Centre.

Nijman – the winner of five Players Championship titles and The European Darts Trophy already in a stellar 2026 campaign – continued his Pro Tour dominance as he reached Tuesday’s Finale firstly by recording victories against Stephen Burton, Darryl Pilgrim, Adam Gawlas, Kai Gotthardt, Kevin Doets and Beau Greaves, to set up a clash with Searle.

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The final began with Searle taking the opener in 14 darts before Nijman won back-to-back legs in a total of 30 darts to move 2-1 ahead in a race to eight. Searle then hit back by winning successive legs of his own to take the lead once again, which was then followed by a 17-dart break of throw from Nijman to square the tie up at 3apiece.

Nothing separated the pair for the following six legs as they remained level at 6apiece after 12 legs played before Nijman took control and won back-to-back legs in 16 and 14 darts respectively which saw the Dutchman seal an 8-6 victory to pick up a seventh title of the year and a tenth PDC ranking title of his career.

Searle – the winner of Players Championship Seven back in March – narrowly missed out on clinching a second title of the year as ‘Heavy Metal’ recorded victories on the day against Derek Coulson, Niall Culleton, Keane Barry, Jeffrey De Graaf, Stephen Bunting and Jonny Clayton, before being denied by Nijman.

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Elsewhere, there were Quarter Final runs for Former Masters Champion Chris Dobey and six-time ranking title winner Dirk Van Duijvenbode, whilst the likes of Gerwyn Price, Martin Schindler and Raymond Van Barneveld were amongst the high profile first round casualties.

The PDC Pro Tour double header concludes on Wednesday with Players Championship 22 taking place in Wigan, with the 128 players returning to compete for a further £150,000 in prize money, with play beginning at 13:00 BST. Play will be broadcasted across four streaming boards on PDC.TV and various bookmaker websites worldwide, with all live scores and results on tv.dartconnect.com.

PDC Pro Tour 2026: Players Championship 21​

Last 16

Wessel Nijman 6-3 Kai Gotthardt

Kevin Doets 6-1 Tommy Lishman

Chris Dobey 6-5 Niels Zonneveld

Beau Greaves 6-3 Luke Woodhouse

Dirk Van Duijvenbode 6-4 Ross Smith

Jonny Clayton 6-5 Karel Sedlacek

Ryan Searle 6-5 Jeffrey De Graaf

Stephen Bunting 6-4 Callan Rydz

Quarter Finals

Wessel Nijman 6-1 Kevin Doets

Beau Greaves 6-4 Chris Dobey

Jonny Clayton 6-4 Dirk Van Duijvenbode

Ryan Searle 6-3 Stephen Bunting

Semi Finals

Wessel Nijman 7-4 Beau Greaves

Ryan Searle 7-5 Jonny Clayton

Final

Wessel Nijman 8-6 Ryan Searle

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