The 2018

BetVictor BetVictor is an online gambling company headquartered in Gibraltar. Founded in 1946, it offers products such as sports betting and online casino. The company is currently owned by Michael Tabor. History The company was founded by William Chand ...

World Matchplay was the 25th annual staging of the World Matchplay, organised by the

Professional Darts Corporation The Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) is a professional darts organisation in the United Kingdom, established in 1992 when a group of leading players split from the British Darts Organisation (BDO) to form what was initially called the World ...

. The tournament took place at the Winter Gardens,

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

, from 21–29 July 2018. Phil Taylor was the defending champion, after defeating Peter Wright 18–8 in the 2017 final to claim his 16th World Matchplay title, but he retired following the

2018 PDC World Darts Championship The 2018 William Hill World Darts Championship was a darts event, held between 14 December 2017 and 1 January 2018 at the Alexandra Palace in London, United Kingdom. It was the 25th World Championship organised by the Professional Darts Corporat ...

final. For the first time, the winner of the tournament, ( Gary Anderson) received the Phil Taylor Trophy, which was renamed in his honour in January 2018. Gary Anderson hit a nine dart finish in the fourth leg of his quarter-final match against Joe Cullen, which was the seventh nine-dart finish in the World Matchplay and the first since 2014. Anderson overcame Cullen 19–17, facing two match darts against him at 14–15 scoreline. Anderson went on to win his first World Matchplay title, defeating

Mensur Suljović Mensur Suljović (Serbian Cyrillic: Менсур Суљовић; born 5 March 1972) is an Austrian professional darts player. He plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, having previously played in the British Darts Organisation (BD ...

, 21–19 after extra time in the longest final in the tournament's history. The first round match between

Kim Huybrechts Kim Huybrechts (born 16 November 1985) is a Belgian professional darts player currently playing in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He made the final of a major TV event, the 2012 Players Championship Finals, losing to Phil Taylor 13 ...

and John Henderson made a piece of World Matchplay history, as it was the first time that a match was won by a single leg since the

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

3rd place play-off. Huybrechts won the match 13–12 in a sudden-death leg, the first time the rule had been needed since it was introduced in 2013. For the first time in World Matchplay history, no Englishmen progressed into the semi-finals, resulting in a first Matchplay final without an English player.

Prize money

The prize fund remained at £500,000, with the winner's earnings being £115,000. Gary Anderson received £45,000 for hitting a

nine-dart finish A nine-dart finish, also known as a nine-darter, is a perfect leg or single game in the sport of darts. The object of the game is to score a set number of points, most commonly 501; in order to win, a player must reach the target total exactly an ...

in his quarter-final against Joe Cullen.

Format

In previous stagings of the event all games had to be won by two clear legs with no sudden-death legs. However, after consulting the host broadcaster

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

in 2013, the PDC decided that games will now only proceed for a maximum of six extra legs before a tie-break leg is required. For example, in a best of 19 legs first round match, if the score reaches 12–12 then the 25th leg will be the decider.

Qualification

The top 16 players on the

PDC Order of Merit The PDC Order of Merit is a world ranking system used by one of the darts organisations, the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). Following the 2007 PDC World Darts Championship it superseded a world ranking system based on points being awarded fo ...

as of 2 July 2018 were seeded for the tournament. The top 16 players on the ProTour Order of Merit not to have already qualified were unseeded. The following players qualified for the tournament:

PDC Order of Merit Top 16

Michael van Gerwen Michael van Gerwen (; born 25 April 1989) is a Dutch professional darts player. He is currently ranked number 3 in the world, having been number 1 from 2014 to 2021. He is also a three-time PDC World Champion, having won the title in 2014, 2 ...

''(first round)'' # Peter Wright ''(semi-finals)'' # Rob Cross ''(second round)'' # Gary Anderson (champion) #

Daryl Gurney Daryl Gurney (born 22 March 1986) is a Northern Irish professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Gurney is a winner of two majors, having won the World Grand Prix in 2017 in his native Ireland, and the P ...

''(second round)'' #

''(runner-up)'' #

Simon Whitlock Simon Whitlock (born 3 March 1969) is an Australian professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) tournaments, having also played in the British Darts Organisation (BDO) between 2004 and 2009. He uses the nickname T ...

''(quarter-finals)'' #

Dave Chisnall Dave Chisnall (born 12 September 1980) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He began his career in the British Darts Organisation (BDO) and was the runner-up in their World Champions ...

''(quarter-finals)'' # Michael Smith ''(second round)'' #

James Wade James Martin Wade (born 6 April 1983) is an English professional darts player, currently playing in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). He became the youngest player to win a major PDC title, when he won the 2007 World Matchplay at the ...

''(second round)'' # Ian White ''(second round)'' #

Gerwyn Price Gerwyn Stephen Price (born 7 March 1985) is a Welsh professional darts player and former professional rugby union and rugby league player. Nicknamed "The Iceman", he competes in events of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC), where he is cu ...

''(first round)'' #

Raymond van Barneveld Raymond van Barneveld (born 20 April 1967) is a Dutch professional darts player. Nicknamed Barney, although originally known as The Man, he is one of the most successful darts players in history. Van Barneveld is a five-time World Darts Champ ...

''(second round)'' #

Darren Webster Darren Michael Webster (born 10 June 1968) is an English darts player nicknamed Demolition Man. Career Webster won the 2005 Open Oust Nederland, beating Co Stompé in the final. Originally nicknamed The Sniper, Webster reached the quarter-fina ...

''(quarter-finals)'' #

''(second round)'' #

Adrian Lewis Adrian Lewis (born 21 January 1985) is an English professional darts player currently playing in the PDC. He is a two-time PDC World Darts Champion, winning in 2011 and 2012. He is nicknamed Jackpot, as he won a jackpot gambling in Las Vegas ...

''(second round)''

PDC ProTour qualifiers

Jonny Clayton Jonny Clayton (born 4 October 1974) is a Welsh professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Nicknamed The Ferret, he was half of the Welsh team that won the 2020 PDC World Cup of Darts before winning his ...

''(first round)'' # Joe Cullen ''(quarter-finals)'' #

Stephen Bunting Stephen Bunting (born 9 April 1985) is an English professional darts player who competes in events of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). Nicknamed The Bullet, Bunting won the 2014 BDO World Darts Championship and is a twice former Worl ...

''(first round)'' #

Max Hopp Max Hopp (born 20 August 1996) is a German professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Career Hopp reached the final of the 2011 WDF World Cup boys' singles, and won the boys' singles event at the 2012 ...

''(first round)'' # Mervyn King ''(first round)'' #

Jermaine Wattimena Jermaine Wattimena (born 9 March 1988) is a Dutch darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) tournaments. Career Wattimena won the first event he entered as he claimed the 2008 Malta Open by beating Vincent Busuttil in t ...

''(first round)'' # Steve West ''(first round)'' #

Steve Beaton Steve Beaton (born 5 April 1964) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He won the BDO World Darts Championship in 1996 and is a former World No. 1. Background Beaton was born in Co ...

''(first round)'' # Kyle Anderson ''(first round)'' #

James Wilson James Wilson may refer to: Politicians and government officials Canada *James Wilson (Upper Canada politician) (1770–1847), English-born farmer and political figure in Upper Canada * James Crocket Wilson (1841–1899), Canadian MP from Quebe ...

''(first round)'' # John Henderson ''(first round)'' #

Keegan Brown Keegan Brown (born 5 November 1992) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He won the 2014 PDC World Youth Championship. Career Early career Brown began playing darts at the age of ni ...

''(first round)'' #

Jelle Klaasen Jelle Klaasen (born 17 October 1984), nicknamed The Cobra, is a Dutch professional darts player who plays in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and World Darts Federation (WDF) events. In 2006, he became the youngest darts player to win the ...

''(first round)'' #

Steve Lennon Stephen Brendan Lennon (born 25 November 1993) is an Irish professional darts player who plays in events of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). Career Lennon played county darts for Kilkenny and Kildare. Lennon has played professional dar ...

''(first round)'' #

Jeffrey de Zwaan Jeffrey de Zwaan (born 26 March 1996) is a Dutch professional darts player who plays in events of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). Career De Zwaan progressed through to the last 16 of the 2014 World Masters, where he lost 3–0 to Glen ...

''(semi-finals)'' # Richard North ''(first round)''

Draw

Statistics

{, class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size: 95%; text-align: right" , - ! Player ! Eliminated ! Played ! Legs Won ! Legs Lost ! 100+ ! 140+ ! 180s ! High Checkout ! 3-dart Average ! Checkout Success , - , align="left", Gary Anderson , Winner , 5 , , , , , , 152 , 100.88 , 36.45% , - , align="left",

, Final , 5 , , , , , , 151 , 97.16 , 40.56% , - , align="left", , , 4 , , , , , , 140 , 99.12 , 42.86% , - , align="left", Peter Wright , Semi-finals , 4 , , , , , , 170 , 88.68 , 37.14% , - , align="left",

, , 3 , , , , , , 148 , 99.05 , 47.06% , - , align="left",

, Quarter-finals , 3 , , , , , , 132 , 96.14 , 38.46% , - , align="left",

, Quarter-finals , 3 , , , , , , 138 , 95.70 , 41.67% , - , align="left", Joe Cullen , Quarter-finals , 3 , , , , , , 170 , 95.26 , 41.46% , - , align="left",

, Second round , 2 , , , , , , 121 , 103.86 , 40.91% , - , align="left", Rob Cross , , 2 , , , , , , 156 , 98.81 , 27.59% , - , align="left", Michael Smith , Second round , 2 , , , , , , 110 , 98.11 , 40.00% , - , align="left",

, Second round , 2 , , , , , , 156 , 96.16 , 33.33% , - , align="left", , Second round , 2 , , , , , , 130 , 95.29 , 69.23% , - , align="left", Ian White , Second round , 2 , , , , , , 154 , 93.51 , 50.00% , - , align="left",

, Second round , 2 , , , , , , 149 , 90.88 , 24.14% , - , align="left",

, Second round , 2 , , , , , , 100 , 87.69 , 25.00% , - , align="left", , , 1 , 6 , 10 , 16 , 8 , 6 , 100 , 97.88 , 35.29% , - , align="left", Mervyn King , First round , 1 , 5 , 10 , 15 , 9 , 5 , 72 , 91.85 , 41.67% , - , align="left", Steve West , First round , 1 , 10 , 12 , 23 , 18 , 6 , 108 , 91.79 , 31.25% , - , align="left", John Henderson , First round , 1 , 12 , 13 , 30 , 13 , 3 , 114 , 91.00 , 52.17% , - , align="left",

, First round , 1 , 6 , 10 , 24 , 10 , 2 , 124 , 91.00 , 37.50% , - , align="left",

, First round , 1 , 6 , 10 , 24 , 11 , 1 , 120 , 90.92 , 46.15% , - , align="left", Kyle Anderson , First round , 1 , 6 , 10 , 14 , 9 , 5 , 90 , 90.69 , 33.33% , - , align="left",

, First round , 1 , 7 , 10 , 23 , 16 , 1 , 80 , 90.51 , 46.67% , - , align="left",

, First round , 1 , 3 , 10 , 8 , 5 , 5 , 99 , 90.23 , 23.08% , - , align="left",

, First round , 1 , 8 , 10 , 19 , 12 , 2 , 86 , 87.72 , 44.44% , - , align="left",

, First round , 1 , 10 , 12 , 24 , 16 , 1 , 113 , 87.63 , 29.41% , - , align="left",

, First round , 1 , 7 , 10 , 8 , 11 , 3 , 110 , 86.21 , 46.67% , - , align="left",

, First round , 1 , 5 , 10 , 13 , 7 , 1 , 40 , 84.36 , 31.25% , - , align="left",

, First round , 1 , 6 , 10 , 15 , 8 , 3 , 154 , 84.06 , 54.55% , - , align="left", Richard North , First round , 1 , 2 , 10 , 8 , 10 , 1 , 80 , 80.40 , 50.00% , - , align="left",

, First round , 1 , 4 , 10 , 14 , 3 , 1 , 109 , 76.62 , 33.33% , -

References

{{2018 in PDC darts World Matchplay (darts) World Matchplay World Matchplay World Matchplay