BUNTING CLAIMS SECOND WORLD SERIES CROWN
07/06/2025 By Aaron Nijjar
STEPHEN BUNTING won the Nordic Masters after beating Rob Cross 8-4 in the final.
‘The Bullet’ picks up his second World Series crown this year and pocketed the £30,000 top prize.
World No. 4 Bunting was tied at 3-3 at the break against ‘Voltage’.
But Bunting hit double top and broke the throw after Cross failed to take out 40 in the seventh leg.
St Helens thrower Bunting produced a 104 finish to go 5-3 up and continued his run to five straight legs to move four clear at 7-3 and one away from victory.
No.1 seed Bunting then missed bull as he nearly finished with a 170 but he secured the win by cleaning up the remaining 25 on his next visit.
The 40-year-old admitted recent struggles with his doubles had made him doubt whether another title would ever come.
He said: “The way I have been playing I was wondering whether I would win another title again.
“My doubles have been atrocious over the last few months.
“I see I am still up on the stats board with my averages, but my doubles are well down.
“It’s something I need to work on.
“Obviously when you win titles like this against the caliber of players that I am facing week in and week out it means an awful lot.”
Bunting also heaped praise on the crowd in the Forum Copenhagen.
He added: “The crowd has been fantastic I’ve loved coming to Copenhagen and hopefully I am involved in the World Series for quite a few more years.
“When you play in front of the big crowds you don’t want to let them down. I didn’t want to let my family and management down.
“Certainly don’t want to let myself down. So I am really proud of myself over these last few days.
“I put the effort in and I believe I am a deserved winner. This is another trophy for the cabinet.”
Former Masters champ Bunting averaged a stellar 95.73 and fired in four 180s to defeat Nathan Aspinall 7-4 in the semi-final.
The Liverpudlian thumped in six out of nine doubles and a super 146 checkout to triumph 6-3 against Jonny Clayton in the quarter-final.
Luke Littler and Luke Humphries had both been knocked out in the quarter-finals.
Teen sensation Littler suffered a 6-3 loss to Aspinall.
Defending champion Gerwyn Price won 6-3 to end the challenge of world number one Humphries but the Welshman lost 7-4 to Cross in the last four.
Image by Taylor Lanning.
