Luke Woodhouse finally broke his title drought, defeating Andrew Gilding 8-4 in the Players Championship 18 final in Leicester to win his maiden PDC title. The 37-year-old, who made his PDC debut in 2013, had played nearly 400 main tour tournaments without winning. "To get that tag of the highest ranked player to not win a title off my back is lovely!" he said.

Woodhouse had lost in three previous Players Championship finals during his career, though he reached the last 16 of the last two World Darts Championships. Gilding started the final strongly, racing to a 3-0 lead, but Woodhouse came roaring back to level at 3-3 and then 4-4. From there, he won four consecutive legs to end his wait. "Relief is the big word," Woodhouse admitted. Gilding had claimed his first ProTour event just last week at the 442nd time of asking.

The victory marks a significant breakthrough for Woodhouse, who stated: "I know I'm playing some really good stuff, so in my eyes it was just a matter of when, not if." Premier League stars Gian van Veen and Stephen Bunting exited in the first round, while Luke Littler, Luke Humphries, Gerwyn Price and Michael van Gerwen did not enter the event.