Gary Anderson wins Players Championship 7 after nine-darters for Ryan Searle, Dirk van Duijvenbode and William O’Connor

Gary Anderson wins 30th Players Championship title of his career after beating Adam Lipscombe in final; Ryan Searle, Dirk van Duijvenbode and William O’Connor hit nine-dart finishes; Michael van Gerwen – the only Premier League player in action – eliminated in first roundThree players hit nine-dart finishes and Michael van Gerwen was eliminated in the first round before Gary Anderson won his 30th Players Championship title on an eventful day in Germany.Ryan Searle, Dirk van Duijvenbode and William O’Connor were the men to record perfect legs in Hildesheim, but it was Anderson who triumphed at Players Championship 7, beating Adam Lipscombe 8-3 in the final after winning seven of the last eight legs.Van Gerwen – the only Premier League player in action with Luke Littler, Luke Humphries, Gerwyn Price, Nathan Aspinall, Stephen Bunting, Chris Dobey and Rob Cross sitting out – lost 6-3 to Niko Springer in the last 128.”I enjoy playing darts. Sometimes it doesn’t play ball body-wise and that’s what I have got to put up with.”Anderson – who lost in the second round at the 2025 World Darts Championship – pipped Krzysztof Ratajski 6-5 in the quarter-finals on Monday and then saw off reigning World Grand Prix champion Mike De Decker 7-3 in the semi-finals.Lipscombe, meanwhile, defeated O’Connor 6-4 in the quarters and then overcame Van Duijvenbode 7-4 in the last four as he came close to a title in his just his eighth event since since securing a Tour Card for the first time in January.Anderson said of Lipscombe, who also beat Damon Heta en route to the final: “Fair play to Adam. I expect him to do well and put a hole in the rankings.”Players Championship 8 will be held at the same venue on Wednesday before the series switches to Leicester for events 9 and 10 on March 31 and April 1 respectively.Anderson ‘over the moon’ with victorySpeaking to PDC TV after his victory, Anderson said: “The last few months have been hard for me.”I started off iffy today but picked up throughout the day, so I am over the moon. I have been struggling since December so it’s nice to get one.