Wessel Nijman wins Players Championship 30! Dutchman routs Damon Heta to enter World Grand Prix in title winning form

Wessel Nijman has taken the title at Players Championship 30, ending this midweek Pro Tour block on a high and heading towards the upcoming World Grand Prix in title winning form. In the final, Nijman defeated Damon Heta 8-3.

For Nijman, this run represents another huge step forward. The Dutchman was near-flawless across the day, brushing aside Tom Bissell and Andy Baetens early before dismantling Chris Dobey 6-2 in the quarter-finals with an average just over the ton. His semi-final was expected to be a scrap against Ryan Searle, who had already banked a title this week, but Nijman never allowed “Heavy Metal” into the contest. A 7-2 rout with a near-98 average sent him to the final, a statement performance that underlined his rising threat.

Heta’s path was more dramatic, the Australian surviving a string of high-pressure moments to make the decider. After coasting past Lukas Wenig, Cam Crabtree and Jeffrey de Graaf with relative ease, the number one seed showed his resilience in the latter stages. He stopped Rob Owen’s fairytale quarter-final run with a 6-3 victory before being dragged into a thriller against Wesley Plaisier. That semi-final was chaos: Plaisier spurned six match darts in the penultimate leg, and Heta – ever the opportunist – pounced to force a decider and then held his nerve to scrape through 7-6.

Nijman wins the final

The Dutchman flew out of the gates, producing an 11-darter to break early and surging into a 2-0 lead. Heta briefly threatened a fightback with a clinical 124 finish to level at 2-2, but Nijman quickly stamped his authority back on the contest. From 3-3, Nijman rattled off four consecutive legs, including a near nine-dart attempt where he just missed double 12 before tidying up in 12 darts.

That burst left the Australian with too much ground to make up, and when Nijman sealed the title 8-3, it capped a performance full of heavy scoring, composure on doubles and a fearless edge.

For Nijman, this was the perfect finale to an already outstanding day on the ProTour. A statement victory, and one that confirms Nijman as a major contender heading into the final stretch of the season.