Ryan Searle claimed his second Players Championship title of 2025 after beating Mario\u00a0Vandenbogaerde 8-6 in a closely contested final at Leicester’s Mattioli Arena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 37-year-old came from 6-5 behind to seal the win and mark the seventh ranking title of his career ahead of next week’s World Grand Prix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Searle got his afternoon off to a strong start, beating European Champion Ritchie Edhouse 6-4 in round one, before sealing a routine 6-2 victory over Dutchman Jamai van Den Herik.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Somerset star put in another impressive performance in round three as he edged past 2023 World Matchplay champion Nathan Aspinall in a last-leg decider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Searle then secured two more narrow victories against Karel Sedlaceck and Darren Beveridge to set up a tie with Kevin Doets in the final four.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was there that Searle produced a great comeback to book his spot in the final, winning four legs in a row to seal a 7-4 win over the Dutchman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Tuesday’s showpiece, Vandenbogaerde struck first, before the pair traded blows in the early stages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After 11 legs, it was the Belgian who led 6-5 before Searle produced another late comeback, winning each of the last three legs and sealing an 8-6 win to pocket the \u00a315,000 top prize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It was difficult,” admitted\u00a0Searle, a former Players Championship Finals runner-up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I have been in really good positions all day and missed a few chances, let people in and made harder work of games than I should have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I missed a chance to break in the first leg. I was trying to hold on and I am just happy to get over the line now, really.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Having prevailed at Players Championship Four earlier this year, today’s win marked a second title of 2025 for Searle \u2013 a feat he hadn’t achieved previously in his career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reflecting on his landmark success, ‘Heavy Metal’ admitted it felt ‘weird’ having come close on several occasions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It feels a bit weird to be honest,”\u00a0Searle continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“There have been plenty of times where I have won an event early on in the season and I get to the quarter-finals, I am playing well and I am already preparing what I am going to say, but I end up losing.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It is cool to finally break that duck and win more than one. The draw opened up for me a bit today, which happens sometimes and it’s normally Chris Dobey’s little trick!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Searle’s win prevented a first title for Vandenbogaerde, who had to settle for second place after producing one of the shock results of the day when he knocked out 2022\/23 World Champion Michael Smith in round one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 52-year-old followed that result up with wins over Daryl Gurney and Nick Kenny before edging past Ross Smith with a 6-5 victory in the last 16 to set up a quarter-final meeting with Jermaine Wattimena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once again, the Belgian earned a hard-fought victory as he squeezed through to the semi-finals with a 6-5 win, surviving four match darts to overturn a 5-3 deficit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The world number 69 then sealed his place in a first-ever PDC ranking final with two ton-plus finishes in his 7-3 victory over Northern Irishman Brendan Dolan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the quarter-finals, Dutchman Doets progressed with a 6-4 victory over world number six Jonny Clayton to set up his semi-final clash with Searle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Clayton had been in brilliant form throughout the day, progressing through with wins over Mensur Suljovic, Christian Kist, Krzysztof Ratajski and Wessel Nijman – averaging almost 111 against the latter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There were also a hat-trick of nine-darters landed on a memorable day of action at the Mattioli Arena, with Germany’s rising star Niko Springer achieving perfection in his opening round demolition of Dimitri Van den Bergh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Swiss star Stefan Bellmont then produced the perfect leg in his round two defeat against Nijman, before Adam Hunt landed a nine-darter to wrap up an impressive win over Bradley Brooks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, it was a disappointing day for Luke Humphries and Josh Rock, who both exited in round one, while top seed Stephen Bunting crashed out at the last 16 stage following a 6-0 defeat at the hands of Wattimena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
RESULTS<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last 16<\/strong>: Jermaine Wattimena 6-0 Stephen Bunting; Mario Vandenbogaerde 6-5 Ross Smith; Michele Turetta 6-3 Richard Veenstra; Brendan Dolan 6-5 Cameron Menzies; Kevin Doets 6-2 Callan Rydz; Jonny Clayton 6-3 Wessel Nijman; Ryan Searle 6-5 Karel Sedlacek; Darren Beveridge 6-3 Gian van Veen<\/p>\n\n\n\n Quarter-Finals<\/strong>: Mario Vandenbogaerde 6-5\u00a0Jermaine Wattimena; Brendan Dolan 6-2\u00a0Michele Turetta; Kevin Doets 6-4 Jonny Clayton; Ryan Searle 6-4 Darren Beveridge<\/p>\n\n\n\n Semi-Finals<\/strong>: Mario Vandenbogaerde 7-3 Brendan Dolan; Ryan Searle 7-4 Kevin Doets<\/p>\n\n\n\n Final<\/strong>: Ryan Searle 8-6\u00a0Mario\u00a0Vandenbogaerde<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ryan Searle claimed his second Players Championship title of 2025 after beating Mario\u00a0Vandenbogaerde 8-6 in a closely contested<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3968,"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-3967","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