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Michael Smith won the Grand Slam of Darts (Picture: Taylor Lanning/PDC)

Darts results: Michael Smith beats Nathan Aspinall to win his maiden major title at the Grand Slam of Darts

By Chris Hammer

Darts

Sun November 20, 2022 · 2y ago

Michael Smith got so tired of knocking on the door, he just decided to kick it off its hinges instead.

The world of darts has been waiting for Bully Boy to win any of the sport's biggest prizes ever since bursting onto the scene as the 2013 World Youth champion, but despite possessing such immense talent, he suffered the heartache of losing all eight of his major finals dating back to his 2018 Premier League defeat to Michael van Gerwen.

Two of his previous final setbacks came on the World Championship stage against MVG in 2019 and Peter Wright at the start of this year, when he received yet more widespread encouragement that his moment of glory was just around the corner.

Much had been made of his improving mental strength, which helped him overcome Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton in epic matches during his Ally Pally run, but the agonising nature of his 11-10 defeat to Danny Noppert in this year's UK Open final made people question whether those battle scars are proving to be painful to heal, especially as it was the third time he'd lost a deciding leg in a final.

It didn't take him long to bounce back with four more other titles - including revenge over Noppert in the Dutch Darts Masters and a second World Series crown at the televised US Darts Masters back in June, where he defeated van Gerwen 8-5 in the final.

The 32-year-old, who was tipped on these pages pre-tournament at 12/1, then earned another crack at a maiden major when reaching last month's European Championship final but despite being the overwhelming favourite against first-time finalist Ross Smith, he had to play the role of the gallant loser once again.

This time it was different.

In his ninth major final at the Cazoo Grand Slam of Darts, he punished Nathan Aspinall for a sluggish start and never looked back.

By the time the finishing line arrived, he was simply too far ahead for any last-gasp jitters and pinned match dart at his first attempt to run out an emphatic 16-5 winner and become the seventh different player to get their hands on the Eric Bristow Trophy.

The popular St Helens thrower, who was also runner-up at the 2020 Masters, 2019 World Matchplay and the 2018 World Series of Darts Finals, collapsed to the floor in sheer relief before Aspinall got him back to his feet and raised his arm aloft.

Fantastic to see Michael Smith finally get the major his career richly deserved!

Great scenes between him and Nathan Aspinall at the end ��
— Chris Hammer (@ChrisHammer180)

In truth, Smith didn't have to be anywhere near the standard we saw him produce against Joe Cullen in the quarter-finals or Raymond van Barneveld's in Sunday afternoon's semi-finals, when he averaged in excess of 100 and threw a combined 31 maximums across both matches.

Aspinall, who was beaten in last month's World Grand Prix final by Michael van Gerwen, couldn't get going and after pulling a leg back to trail 8-5, he'd only attempt six more darts at a double as Bully Boy won eight legs on the trot to get his hands on the trophy and a cheque for £150,000.

“I don’t know how to feel, I am used to the emotion of losing,” joked Smith, who averaged 96, landed nine 180s and converted 50% of his attempts at doubles. “I have arrived now, I have got my first title under my belt and no one can say, ‘Michael Smith hasn’t won a title’.

“I have finally got one under my belt and it is time to step up. I knew when I went in at 15-5 it was just one more, even I couldn’t have messed that up.

🗣️ "They can't take this away from me now"

Michael Smith reacts to winning Grand Slam of Darts 💪
— Sky Sports Darts (@SkySportsDarts)

“It is hard when I’m the only person in the top 10 not to win a title, I have been there for seven years and it’s just a pain in the a***. You keep trying to say you will win one and you keep getting beaten. Now I don’t have to tell myself I’ll win one.

“Now it is my time. It is time to be greedy now and get more and that is what I want.”

Smith, who will aim to make it back-to-back titles at next week’s Cazoo Players Championship Finals in Minehead, earlier told Sky Sports: "The hard work starts again now.

“Nobody can take this away from me now. It’s a big weight off my shoulders. I’m going to enjoy this until Thursday and then on Friday it’s a new event, and now I’ve got this title, who knows?”

The floodgates may well open for Smith if he follows in the footsteps of the current world champion.

Snakebite, who also inflicted an agonising 11-10 defeat on Smith in the 2020 Masters when surviving three missed match darts, said after the World Championship final back in January: "Michael is the future of darts, I feel for him tonight because I've been in his position."

Indeed, Wright lost his first five major finals before triumphing against Price at the 2017 UK Open and although he did go on to lose his next seven in a row, he has now won six of his last seven dating back to his maiden world title.

Aspinall agreed, saying: “I love Michael to bits. I’m so proud of him. It’s hard to get over the line, and he’s finally done it.

"I said to him before the match, as soon as he wins one he is going to dominate, and I’m really sorry to the rest of the Tour Card Holders, because we’re all in trouble now!”

As for his own run to the final, the Asp said: "From where I came from in January, I’m really proud to reach two major finals in three tournaments.

"I just couldn’t find it. It was just one of those nights, but if I’m going to lose to anyone I’m glad it’s Michael, and hopefully we will play together at the World Cup in June."

🗣️ "If I'm going to lose to anyone, I'm glad it's Michael. I'm proud of him."

Nathan Aspinall is a top guy 🤝
— Sky Sports Darts (@SkySportsDarts)

Michael Smith 16-5 Nathan Aspinall: Match Stats

Average

Smith: 96.94
Aspinall: 90.94

180s

Smith: 9
Aspinall: 1

Checkout Percentage

Smith: 50% (16/32)
Aspinall: 33.3% (5/15)

100+ checkouts

Smith: 0
Aspinall: 0

Michael Smith's Televised PDC finals

2018 Premier League: LOST 4-11 v Michael van Gerwen (Major)
2018 Shanghai Darts Masters: WON 8-2 v Rob Cross (World Series)
2018 Melbourne Darts Masters: LOST 8-11 v Peter Wright (World Series)
2018 World Series of Darts Finals: LOST 10-11 v James Wade (Major)
2019 World Championship: LOST 3-7 v Michael van Gerwen (Major)
2019 US Darts Masters: LOST 4-8 v Nathan Aspinall
2019 World Matchplay: LOST 13-18 v Rob Cross (Major)
2020 Masters: LOST 10-11 v Peter Wright (Major)
2020 World Cup of Darts: LOST 0-3 v Wales
2022 World Championship: LOST 5-7 v Peter Wright (Major)
2022 UK Open: LOST 10-11 v Danny Noppert (Major)
2022 US Darts Masters: WON 8-5 v Michael van Gerwen (World Series)
2022 European Championship: LOST 8-11 v Ross Smith (Major)
2022 Grand Slam of Darts: WON 16-5 v Nathan Aspinall Michael van Gerwen (Major)

Scroll down for tournament results and stats

Semi-final round up

Bully Boy beat the legendary Dutchman 16-12 in Sunday afternoon's semi-final in Wolverhampton to make it through to a ninth career final in which he will bid to end a run of eight successive defeats.

Three of those have been in 2022 - including the World Championship at the start of the season - but he will be confident of breaking his duck later on Sunday evening after a fine performance against Barney, who had been rolling back the years this week.

Smith surged into a 5-0 lead in the first to 16 before Van Barneveld battled his way back, eventually levelling at 10-10.

But the St Helens was not prepared to let this opportunity slip and with the tie poised at 12-12, rattled off the final four legs to book himself another final spot.

Smith averaged an impressive 104.10 and fired in 17 180s while crowd favourite van Barneveld heads home with a lot of pride having reached his first major televised semi-final since the 2017 World Championship.

🎯👏 Michael Smith is into his ninth major final, but what a run from Raymond van Barneveld!

🤔 Will the Bully Boy go on and win his long-awaited maiden title?
— Sporting Life 🎯🔴🎾⛳️🥊🏏🏉 🏈 (@SportingLifeFC)

If Smith is to get his hands on some silverware he will have to beat Nathan Aspinall in the final.

Aspinall, who was runner-up at the Grand Prix in Leicester last month, beat Luke Humphries 16-12 in the other semi-final.

It was a tight game which was tied at 11-11 until Aspinall hit the gas, claiming victory with a stylish 121 checkout.

WHAT A WAY TO WIN IT!

Nathan Aspinall pins the bull for a 121 checkout to seal victory over Luke Humphries! He's into the final! | SF
📺
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC)

Grand Slam of Darts: Group stage standings and results

Scoring System: Each competitor played each other once in a best-of-nine legs match, with two points going to the winner. The top two from each group progressed to the knockout stages.