HETA TRIUMPHS AT PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP 13
14/04/2025 By Aaron Nijjar
By Aaron Nijjar
DAMON HETA has won the Players Championship 13 in Rosmalen with an 8-6 victory over Nathan Aspinall in the final.
World No. 7 Heta has now secured 11 PDC senior titles.
Australian thrower Heta was clinical on his doubles hitting eight out of eleven and smashed in two brilliant ton plus checkouts including a 120 to defeat Aspinall.
Former UK Open semi-finalist Heta took four of the opening five legs as he averaged in excess of 105 for the majority of their tussle.
Two-time major winner Aspinall won five out of seven legs later in the contest, levelling the final at 6-6.
But failure to take a chance in leg 13 gave Heta the chance to get over the line with a 15-darter.
Despite admitting at not being his best, Heta revealed he was delighted to win his first title of the year.
He said: “I felt like if I turn up I could win this day.
“Every game I felt like I will turn up but I didn’t.
“For some reason you have days where you win tournaments like this when you don’t play great.
“That’s darts you just ride your luck and take your victories when you can.
“But I am really stoked to be honest.”
Heta revealed he has been tinkering with his darts to help aid his cause in winning a maiden major title.
He added: “I’m working on some things and I want to get better.
“I’ve never tinkered with my darts. It’s an aspect I never dived into because I always thought it’s the player not the darts that determines if you win.
“It’s something I am working on at the moment. For example today I played with new darts and I got the win.
“So who am I to say they are no good.
“I’ve put in all the ground work and now I’m just waiting for the rewards of winning the big stuff.
“I always think when is that going to happen. I just need to keep working hard and things will fall into place.
“Hopefully I will turn up for the majors.”
Heta began the day with wins over Adam Hunt, Berry van Peer and Andy Baetens to reach the last 16, where he overcame Jermaine Wattimena to seal a fourth quarter-final berth of the year.
The 37-year-old defeated Karel Sedlacek and Andrew Gilding in the quarter-finals and semi-finals respectively
Aspinall, winner of Premier League Night Ten in Manchester last Thursday, beat Jonny Clayton, Dirk van Duijvenbode and Jonny Clayton on his way to a first Players Championship event final since August 2022.
Players Championship 13 also saw Wessel Nijman hit a nine-dart finish in his 6-0 first round win over Rob Owen, while Michael van Gerwen and Gerwyn Price suffered first and second round defeats respectively.
Image by Taylor Lanning.
