Players Championship 7/8 - another routine Michael double

Very interesting set of results - Michael Smith winning an event is one that I think people could see coming a mile off, Michael Mansell on the other hand is one that I don't think even Michael Mansell could see coming. Fair play though, he only lost 11 legs and had to do it the hard way, going through Huybrechts, Eastwood, Norris, Thornton, Price, Payne and Lewis, all of whom have done something at some stage of their careers (apart from Eastwood I guess, but along with Kevin Burness he did cash twice this weekend which is OK for where they are in the FRH rankings). Lewis can count himself unlucky to have reached two finals and not win one, but twelve grand for the weekend sees him climb back into the FRH top 20 at the expense of Benito van de Pas, who had another mediocre weekend.

Elsewhere, James Wilson had a good weekend with two quarter finals, Mark Webster got a first quarter in what seems like forever, de Zwaan continues an impressive start to the year with a semi final, while Ryan Joyce is similar with two board wins.

Current FRH rankings:

1 Michael van Gerwen
2 Rob Cross
3 Peter Wright
4 Phil Taylor
5 Gary Anderson
6 Daryl Gurney
7 Mensur Suljovic
8 Michael Smith (UP 1)
9 Simon Whitlock (DOWN 1)
10 Dave Chisnall
11 Gerwyn Price
12 Ian White
13 Raymond van Barneveld
14 James Wade
15 Darren Webster
16 Alan Norris
17 Kim Huybrechts
18 Joe Cullen (UP 1)
19 Jelle Klaasen (DOWN 1)
20 Adrian Lewis (NEW)

Mansell's win moves him into the top 64, one place above Josh Payne. Alcinas' quarter final sees him sneak back in the top 50, with around 40 through to 55 clogged up with non-English players. de Zwaan is about four grand outside the top 50 and continues to rise, Hopp is back in the top 60 now following more good results, Alan Tabern is in the top 100 while Joyce is into the top 110, and another in form player in Michael Barnard is in the top 120.

That Wade segment is going to need to wait until later in the week, I'm not going to get round to collating this weekend's results until Wednesday (damn you Flybe), but once done I'll have also have a look at Mansell's run, the performance of the likes of Joyce, Tabern and Barnard, and probably also have a look at Adrian Lewis.