Photo courtesy of Lawrence Lustig/PDC
Peter Wright claimed his first Betfred World Matchplay title on Sunday night, after he thrashed defending champion Dimitri van den Bergh
‘Snakebite’ followed up his historic semi-final performance with another sensational display in the final , averaging almost 106 in a 18-9 victory.
An emotional Wright dedicated his win to his wife Joanne, who has recently undergone back surgery, and also praised his “special friend” van den Burgh.
“To beat last year’s Matchplay champion Dimitri – he is a very special friend. He’s just proved to the world how he can play.
“Obviously he missed a lot of doubles and let me in today, otherwise it was very difficult work to get this off of him.”
Similarly, the Belgian was full of praise for ‘Snakebite’.
“Every game I’ve played, I’ve dug deep and played my best but tonight Peter was just outstanding,” said van den Bergh.
“Of course it was a disappointment to lose but I can say that I gave everything and never gave up.
“I said to Peter that I’ll be back stronger. I’m number five in the world and I’m only 27, so I’ve got time on my side.”
Lawrence Lustig/PDC
Wright becomes just the fifth player in history behind Phil Taylor, Michael van Gerwen, Gary Anderson and Rob Cross to complete a World Championship-World Matchplay career double, and is now joint-favourite at 5/1 (along with Gerwyn Price and Michael van Gerwen) to win the PDC World Championship next year.
We’ve seen some absolutely sensational darts over the past week or so, and we can’t wait for next year already!
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