Nathan Aspinall won his third European Tour event of the year after beating Dirk van Duijvenbode 8-6 in the final of the German Darts Championship.
Van Duijvenbode, seeking a maiden European Tour title, had produced a magical nine-darter on day one in Hildesheim and threatened to repeat the feat early on in a captivating contest.
Aspinall reeled off three successive legs midway through the contest to break clear, and though Van Duijvenbode hit back with a four-leg flurry of his own, the Stockport thrower regained control with a crucial hold in leg 13, before sealing victory with a clinical 74 finish on tops.
The result secured a German hat-trick for Aspinall after previous wins in Göttingen and Leverkusen.
"I took a 6-2 lead but Dirk did to me what I do to a lot of players - he came back fighting," he said. "It's been an amazing weekend of darts. This has given me another huge confidence boost."
Aspinall had kicked off his campaign with averages of 103 and 107 in wins over Maximilian Czerwinski and Ross Smith on Saturday and was even better on Sunday, producing a staggering 110.7 average to dispatch Steve Lennon, before overcoming Dutch duo Jermaine Wattimena and Gian van Veen.
'The Asp' joins Michael van Gerwen, Peter Wright, Luke Humphries and Dave Chisnall as only the fifth player to win three European Tour titles in the same calendar year, having taken over a decade to break his duck on this stage.
"I'm in very good company! It took me ten years to win my first one, but I've found the formula now," the 34-year-old said.
"It's been a difficult few months since the World Matchplay, but I've been working hard at home, and I'm really happy to win another tournament."
Aspinall will head to the European Championship in Dortmund next week as top seed, with the Grand Slam of Darts - live on SportNews - coming up in November.
Round Three
Danny Noppert 6-5 Gerwyn Price
Gian van Veen 6-1 Jonny Clayton
Nathan Aspinall 6-2 Steve Lennon
Jermaine Wattimena 6-2 Wessel Nijman
Peter Wright 6-4 Cameron Menzies
Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-5 Martin Schindler
Dave Chisnall 6-2 Ricky Evans
Krzysztof Ratajski 6-2 Ryan Joyce
Quarter-Finals
Gian van Veen 6-3 Danny Noppert
Nathan Aspinall 6-4 Jermaine Wattimena
Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-5 Peter Wright
Krzysztof Ratajski 6-5 Dave Chisnall
Semi-Finals
Nathan Aspinall 7-6 Gian van Veen
Dirk van Duijvenbode 7-3 Krzysztof Ratajski
Final
Nathan Aspinall 8-6 Dirk van Duijvenbode
Watch the Grand Slam of Darts live on SportNews from November 8-16, before the World Darts Championship runs from December 11-January 3. .
