Peter Wright has returned to form on the televised stage by winning the European Championship courtesy of an 11-6 victory over James Wade.
Although the 53-year-old has remained in the top four of the PDC Order of Merit in the long term, over a year had passed without reaching a televised ranking semi-final until he reached that stage in Dortmund earlier on Sunday.
The Scot was then able to back up success over Danny Noppert in the last four by overcoming the challenge of Wade in what was a repeat of the 2020 final which Wright won on that occasion.
Wade impressed during the opening two legs, taking out a 157 checkout, but he was always chasing from the third leg onwards, with Wright possessing a 55% checkout rate in establishing a 5-2 lead.
While Wade took the final two legs of the second session to reduce the deficit to 6-4, Wright responded by going 8-4 and 10-5 ahead before missing three darts for the match in the 16th leg.
WRIGHT IS THE CHAMPION! 🏆
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) October 29, 2023
Peter Wright defeats James Wade 11-6 to win the Machineseeker European Championship!#ECDarts | Final
📺 https://t.co/krogNobX5o pic.twitter.com/N42kKO4snT
Wade capitalised to reduce the arrears, but Wright would not be denied, finishing 96 in the next leg to prevail with four 180s and a 97.39 average.
Wright's triumph sees him move into second spot in the PDC World Order of Merit, while Wade is back into the world's top 16 at number 14, a key move ahead of the World Championship at the end of the year.
Elsewhere, Noppert is just £1,000 behind Jonny Clayton, who is world number seven, with fellow semi-finalist Gian van Veen advancing up to 56th position after beating Michael van Gerwen earlier in the day before succumbing 11-9 to Wade.
Darren Plant
