Damon Heta celebrated his first European Tour success with a dramatic 8-7 win over Peter Wright in Sunday’s Gibraltar Darts Trophy final.
A thrilling end to the year’s PDC European Tour action saw Australia’s Heta scoop the £25,000 top prize at the Victoria Stadium following an action-packed final.
World Champion Wright produced some superb darts to lead 3-0, only for Heta to take out a 167 finish on his way to a 7-5 lead.
Wright took the next two to take the final to a sudden-death leg, but after being first to a finish spurned six championship darts across three visits.
Heta had missed four darts of his own in two visits as the pair searched for the winning blow, before he posted double four to seal glory.
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2022 Gibraltar Darts Trophy
Sunday October 16
Third Round
Afternoon Session
Luke Humphries 6-3 Wesley Plaisier
Peter Wright 6-1 Ryan Searle
Josh Rock 6-5 Jonny Clayton
Rob Cross 6-4 Ryan Joyce
Michael van Gerwen 6-4 Jose De Sousa
Nathan Aspinall 6-5 Dirk van Duijvenbode
Gabriel Clemens 6-1 Mensur Suljovic
Damon Heta 6-1 Joe Cullen
Evening Session
Quarter-Finals
Peter Wright 6-3 Luke Humphries
Rob Cross 6-5 Josh Rock
Michael van Gerwen 6-4 Nathan Aspinall
Damon Heta 6-4 Gabriel Clemens
Semi-Finals
Peter Wright 7-1 Rob Cross
Damon Heta 7-6 Michael van Gerwen
Final
Damon Heta 8-7 Peter Wright
Top seed Luke Humphries produced a classy display to end Wesley Plaisier’s Cazoo European Championship qualification hopes in Sunday afternoon’s opener.
Plaisier paid the price for missing two darts at double for a 4-3 lead and Humphries duly capitalised, firing in legs of 10 and 13 darts in the latter stages to triumph with a 101 average.
World Champion Peter Wright stormed through to the last eight with a sensational 6-1 victory over Ryan Searle, averaging 108 to dispatch an impressive Searle, who averaged over 103 in defeat.
Josh Rock secured a place in his second European Tour quarter-final after coming from 5-3 down to deny Jonny Clayton in a last-leg thriller, surviving a match dart in leg nine before wrapping up victory with a nerveless 80 finish on tops.
Rock will now play European Champion Rob Cross in the last eight, after Cross reeled off three consecutive legs from 4-3 down to overcome Ryan Joyce in a high-quality tie, with both players averaging over 102.
Michael van Gerwen continued his bid for a fourth Gibraltar Darts Trophy title, battling past former Grand Slam champion Jose De Sousa 6-4 to set up a showdown against Nathan Aspinall, in a repeat of last weekend’s World Grand Prix final.
After recovering from 5-0 down against Vincent van der Voort on Saturday, Aspinall produced more comeback heroics against Dutch opposition, rallying from 5-2 down and surviving three match darts to defeat Dirk van Duijvenbode with a 12-dart break in the decider.
Elsewhere, Gabriel Clemens eased through to his second consecutive European Tour quarter-final with an emphatic 6-1 win over Mensur Suljovic, punishing a below-par display from the Austrian to book a meeting against Damon Heta.
Australia’s World Cup winner Heta raced through to the last eight with a comprehensive 6-1 win against Joe Cullen, avenging his World Matchplay and World Grand Prix defeats to the Masters champion
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