Wessel Nijman maintained his astonishing start to 2026 by securing his fourth Players Championship title of the year at last night’s Players Championship Twelve in Milton Keynes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nijman \u2013 also the winner of March’s European Darts Trophy \u2013 prevailed in an all-Dutch affair against Jermaine Wattimena to pocket the \u00a315,000 top prize at Arena MK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wattimena established an early 4-2 cushion as he sought to claim his first ranking title since October, only for Nijman to win six of the next seven legs to wrap up an impressive 8-5 victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It was kind of a nervy final. I went behind after missing some doubles,”\u00a0reflected Nijman, who has made five finals in just ten Players Championship appearances this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I’m so happy I kept it together. There were some finishes I hit with the last dart, the 57 [to go 6-5 up] was important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“When it clicks together and you play those finals, and you’ve been playing those games all day long, the next time you come, you remember that.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Me and Jermaine will be close in the next few months, but this is a big step into the top 16 and hopefully there will be many more steps made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Top 16 was one of the goals I had at the start of the year, to get that privilege of starting on the Saturday [in Euro Tours] and starting on the left side of the draw in big majors.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Having opened his challenge with a comprehensive 6-2 win over Scott Williams, Nijman survived a match dart against Tom Sykes in round two, overturning a 5-4 deficit in the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Dutchman continued his charge with a 6-3 victory over Sebastian Bialecki, before sweeping aside Ryan Searle by the same scoreline – his sixth straight win over the World Championship semi-finalist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following a routine 6-2 success against Nathan Potter, Nijman produced his best performance of the day in his semi-final clash against Tom Bissell, averaging 103.41 to seal a 7-4 victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This set up a decisive showdown with his fellow countryman Wattimena, who enjoyed the better of the early exchanges, courtesy of some clinical combination finishing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, Nijman responded with a three-leg flurry \u2013 including an 11-dart break \u2013 to lead 5-4, before defying an 80 checkout from Wattimena to regain the initiative at 6-5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wattimena then squandered six darts at double to restore parity in a pivotal twelfth leg, and Nijman duly capitalised, before firing in a 14-dart hold to seal his eighth PDC ranking title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite missing out on a third Players Championship crown, Wattimena made a timely return to form in Milton Keynes, having failed to progress beyond the last 16 of a ranking event in 2026 prior to Tuesday’s action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2024 European Championship runner-up overcame his compatriots Martijn Dragt and Sietse Lap to kick off proceedings, which he backed up with battling wins over Joe Hunt and Tommy Lishman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wattimena then averaged 104.43 in a sparkling quarter-final victory over Chris Dobey, before delivering a doubling masterclass in his 7-3 success against fellow Dutch star Kevin Doets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Doets was featuring in back-to-back semi-finals following another strong showing at Arena MK, which included wins over Gabriel Clemens, Mike De Decker and a 6-1 drubbing of Gary Anderson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 27-year-old was joined in the last four by Bissell, who produced arguably the most impressive campaign of his PDC career to progress to a second Players Championship semi-final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bissell averaged 100.42 across six matches, accounting for Ross Smith and Max Hopp, while also whitewashing Monday’s champion Beau Greaves in the last 16.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anderson \u2013 a semi-finalist on Monday \u2013 produced more stratospheric numbers in his run to the quarter-finals, averaging 107 and 105 in victories over Yorick Hofkens and Krzysztof Ratajski respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, Dobey – a winner of two Players Championship titles in 2026 \u2013 also advanced to the last eight alongside a revitalised Hopp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Potter completed the quarter-final line-up, dumping out Dimitri Van den Bergh, Daryl Gurney and James Wade in just his second Players Championship appearance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2026 PDC ProTour season continues with another Players Championship double-header next week, as Hildesheim plays host to Players Championships 13-14 on May 4-5. Semi-Finals<\/strong> Final<\/strong> Wessel Nijman maintained his astonishing start to 2026 by securing his fourth Players Championship title of the year<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12378,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[59],"class_list":["post-12377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-darts"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t
RESULTS
Last 16
<\/strong>Wessel Nijman 6-3 Ryan Searle
Nathan Potter 6-2 James Wade
Tom Bissell 6-0 Beau Greaves
Max Hopp 6-5 Darryl Pilgrim
Chris Dobey 6-1 Chris Landman
Jermaine Wattimena 6-2 Tommy Lishman
Kevin Doets 6-5 Mike De Decker
Gary Anderson 6-3 Alexander Merkx
Quarter-Finals<\/strong>
Wessel Nijman 6-2 Nathan Potter
Tom Bissell 6-3 Max Hopp
Jermaine Wattimena 6-3 Chris Dobey
Kevin Doets 6-1 Gary Anderson<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wessel Nijman 7-4 Tom Bissell
Jermaine Wattimena 7-3 Kevin Doets<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wessel Nijman 8-5 Jermaine Wattimena<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"