Gary Anderson ended his six-month wait for silverware as he rolled back the years to win his 30th Players Championship title on Monday night.

The 54-year-old eased to an 8-3 win over Adam Lipscombe in the final at Players Championship Seven in Hildesheim, Germany.

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Anderson looked back to his best – scooping seven of the last eight legs to win his first PDC Ranking title since Players Championship 22 in September 2024.

The two-time PDC World Champion dropped just seven legs in his opening four matches against Connor Scutt, Andy Boulton, Marvin van Velzen and Tavis Dudeney.

He then emerged victorious in a last-leg decider against Krzysztof Ratajski in the quarter-finals, before beating reigning World Grand Prix champion Mike De Decker 7-3 in the semis.

Having now won 30 Players Championship events, only Michael van Gerwen and Phil Taylor have lifted more.

Van Gerwen, who was the only Premier League player to take part in the recent tournament, couldn’t add to his previous 36 triumphs.

The Dutchman crashed out in a shock defeat to World No. 111 Niko Springer in the second round – losing 6-3.

While Anderson is closing in on MVG’s record, he still has some way to topple Taylor, who banked 45 victories across the Players Championship during his illustrious career.

In contrast, world number one Luke Humphries has only won four Players Championship titles.

Meanwhile teenage sensation Luke Littler has won on three occasions.

However it was the duo that took part in last year’s showpiece match at the Players Championship Finals, which saw Humphries scoop back-to-back crowns.

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Darts stars will be competing in 34 Players Championship events up until October ahead of the Finals in November.

Tournaments are being held across England, Holland and Germany to determine the top 64 players from the Players Championships Order of Merit who have banked the most prize money from the 34 events.

And Anderson will be hoping to carry his form into the next event on Wednesday – also in Hildesheim – before Leicester host the next two nights on March 31 and April 1 respectively.

The Scotsman was overcome with emotion following his recent title success having struggled for consistency of late.

He told PDC TV: “The last few months have been hard for me.

“I have been struggling since early December, so it is nice to get one. I started off a bit iffy and then I picked it up.

“I’m over the moon. Nowadays there are so many good players. It’s not like ten years ago when you pick the quarter-finals and the last-16.

“It’s a different kettle of fish now. I enjoy playing darts.

“Sometimes it does not play ball body-wise and that’s what I have to put up with.

“If I get beat I go home, pop off to my bed.”