Sensational run by Nathan Aspinall: At Players Championship 31, “The Asp” achieves the perfect leg twice – however, the perfect ending of the day remains elusive.
What a day for Nathan Aspinall! The darts superstar threw two 9-darters at Players Championship 31.
After “The Asp” had already celebrated the perfect leg in the round of 64 against Steve Lennon, it happened again later in the duel with German player Lukas Wenig.
Nathan Aspinall threw multiple 9-darters at Players Championship 31
Aspinall throws two 9-darters in one day
The Englishman was under considerable pressure in the round of 16: In the 7th leg, it was surprisingly 4:2 for the German challenger – but then Aspinall, the 2023 World Matchplay champion, struck back.
As he had done a few hours earlier, he checked the remaining 141 points after two 180s via the classic route of triple-20, triple-19 and double-12.
Even before Aspinall threw his last dart at the double, Wenig had already raised his arms in celebration in the background. When the two-time World Championship semifinalist hit the double-12, the German opponent immediately congratulated him.
The 9-darter proved to be the turning point in the match for Aspinall, who won three of the following four legs to ultimately secure a 6:5 victory. In his duel with Lennon, he had won the 2nd leg with the perfect game and ultimately won 6:4.
Darts: Aspinall cannot crown sensational day
Aspinall had previously recorded only four 9-darters in his career: two in 2021, one in 2020, and his first in 2018 on the Pro Tour.
At the 31st stop of the Players Championships, “The Asp” could not ultimately crown his sensational day with the overall victory: After Wenig, he cleared James Wade (6:5) in the quarterfinals and Stephen Bunting (7:3) in the semifinals – but he lost the final clearly 2:8 against Jermaine Wattimena.