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Aspinall takes the title while Ashton gets off the mark

Lisa Ashton beat Christian Bunse to claim her first PDC Pro Tour victory.
Lisa Ashton beat Christian Bunse to claim her first PDC Pro Tour victory.

Nathan Aspinall overcame world champion Peter Wright in a remarkable quarter-final clash on his way to winning Players Championship 2 in Barnsley, where there was also a first victory on the PDC Pro Tour for Lisa Ashton.

Aspinall posted a 117.5 average in beating Wright 6-4, as well as hitting a nine-dart finish - the fifth of the weekend at the Metrodome.

The pair's combined match average of 115.59 was the highest recorded in PDC history.

Aspinall went on to thump Gabriel Clemens 7-0 in the semi-finals before storming to an 8-3 victory over world number three Gerwyn Price in the final.

"I've never thrown darts like that," Aspinall is quoted as saying by PDC.tv. "The last two hours of play I just felt like I wasn't going to miss.

"To throw such a big average against the world champion makes it even more special."

Gary Anderson, who won Players Championship 1 on Saturday, was knocked out on this occasion by Steve Beaton in the first round, which also saw Ashton open her account.

Ashton, who last month became the first woman to win a PDC tour card,  secured a 6-3 victory over Germany's Christian Bunse as she bounced back from Saturday's debut defeat to Brendan Dolan.

She was unable to back it up against Darius Labanauskas later in the day, though, going down by a 6-2 scoreline.

Three-time world champion Michael Van Gerwen was beaten 6-5 by Jamie Hughes in the last 16, having lost in the third round on Saturday.

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