Wade Beats Pipe In ProTour Treble

JAMES WADE defeated Justin Pipe 6-3 to claim victory in Saturday's German Darts Classic Players Championship.

The world number three claimed his first ranking win since the Speedy Hire UK Open in June, and his first Players Championship title since September 2010, with the triumph at Gladbeck's Van Der Valk Hotel.

Wade enjoyed a fine day in Germany in picking up the £6,000 first prize, defeating Yorkshire pair Reece Robinson and Dave Smith, world number six Wes Newton, Dave Chisnall and John Henderson to reach the semis.

There, he edged past Mervyn King 6-5 in a high-quality encounter, hitting a 180 to set up double top for a 13-dart finish in the deciding leg after King had hit back from 4-1 down to level.

After sharing the opening four legs of the final with in-form Pipe, Wade took out 104 to win the fifth leg, broke in 14 darts and then hit a 180 and a 96 finish to move 5-2 up.

Pipe replied with a 96 finish to win his third leg, but his hopes of winning a third successive Players Championship were ended in the next leg when he missed two darts to stay in the game and Wade finished double eight for victory.

Pipe had recently won his first Players Championships in back-to-back events in Dublin and Killarney, and impressed once more with his run to the final, where he picked up £3,000.

He failed to lose more than two legs in a game during his run to the final, whitewashing Gerhard Kremer and Steve Hine before also defeating Michael Rosenauer, Roland Scholten, Simon Whitlock and Jyhan Artut with 6-2 scorelines.

Artut won through to his first-ever Players Championship semi-final - and became the third German to reach a ProTour semi alongside Michael Rosenauer and Andree Welge - with his run as he claimed £2,000 prize money.

He claimed notable wins over Co Stompe, Mark Webster, Steve Brown and Mark Hylton before losing out to Pipe in the last four.

King followed up his success in reaching the semi-finals of Championship League Darts on Thursday by winning through to the last four in his second Players Championship this month.

John Henderson, Colin Lloyd, Mark Hylton and Simon Whitlock all reached the quarter-finals, while Roland Scholten improved his chances of qualifying for the Ladbrokes World Darts Championship by reaching the last 16.

Sunday sees a second Players Championship held at Gladbeck's Van Der Valk Hotel, with play commencing at 12pm local time (11am BST).