Saturday 4 July 2015 21:18, UK
James Wade sealed his second Players Championship title of 2015 as he beat Kim Huybrechts 6-5 to win the 13th event of the year in Wigan on Saturday.
Wade was back to his best at the Robin Park Tennis Centre as he confidently saw off a host of tough opponents before coming back to beat Huybrechts in a dramatic deciding leg in the final.
The 32-year-old began the afternoon in dominant fashion as he thumped Steve Douglas and Dirk van Duijvenbode for the loss of only one leg in his opening two matches before edging out Dave Ladley 6-5 to win his board.
The Aldershot thrower then defeated Vincent van der Voort 6-3 in the last 16 before beating Ian White - who had knocked out Phil Taylor in his previous game - 6-4 to set up a semi-final with Keegan Brown.
World Youth champion Brown was enjoying another superb day at the oche, but Wade would again make light work of his opponent, running out a comfortable 6-1 victor to reach a sixth ProTour final of the year.
Huybrechts also enjoyed a strong start to the day as he opened up with a 6-2 victory against Steve Brown before sealing consecutive 6-3 victories against David Pallett and Steve Beaton to win his board.
The Belgian then saw off Players Championship Ten winner Joe Murnan 6-4 in the last 16 before edging out Kyle Anderson 6-5 in the quarter-finals.
Huybrechts would have to come through another tough test in the following round as he averaged 107.23 in a 6-4 victory against UK Open semi-finalist Andrew Gilding to set up the final with Wade.
It would be the Belgian who continued his form in the early exchanges of the final as he swiftly moved into a 3-1 lead before later extending his advantage to 5-3 to move one leg away from the win.
Wade, though, refused to be beaten as he produced a strong comeback to take the final three legs and secure the £10,000 winners' cheque.
