A THIRD straight world title - and 18th consecutive win at Alexandra Palace - proved just a step too far for Gary Anderson on Monday night, writes Richard Browne.

The defending champion was beaten 7-3 by a merciless Michael van Gerwen in the PDC World Darts Championship final, surrendering the crown he has won for the last two years to the Dutch world number one.

After an even start, Van Gerwen took control, claiming 11 of 12 legs played in racing into a 5-2 lead that Anderson could not pull back.

Burnham-based Anderson, nicknamed 'The Flying Scotsman', was bidding for a third consecutive victory in this competition, an achievement that would place him in the pantheon of darts greats alongside Eric Bristow and Phil Taylor.

Yet he came into the final as outsider as far as the bookmakers were concerned, due to the calibre of the man he was up against - Van Gerwen having posted the highest average in the competition's history (114.05) to defeat compatriot Raymond van Barneveld in the semi-finals.

The finalists rattled through the first couple of sets without a single break of throw, before the Scot broke in the first leg of the third by nailing a double 20.

From there, however, it was all Van Gerwen.

Van Gerwen broke back inside 11 darts for 2-2, nailing a 180, then treble 18 and double 16 to break Anderson and level, before racing through the fifth set 3-0 to lead.

The Dutch machine broke against the throw once again and took the sixth set for a 4-2 advantage – extending that to 5-2 after monstering his opponent 3-0 in the seventh.

Anderson got one leg on the board in the eighth set but the Scot then missed a double 12 opportunity, Van Gerwen broke, and a 100 checkout sealed a fifth consecutive set for the Dutchman – and put him one set away from glory.

The Burnham man then hit the 35th combined 180 of the match, breaking the world record, in reducing the arrears to 6-3.

But he would not be allowed to enjoy his re-found rhythm for long, as Van Gerwen broke to take the next set 3-2, which wrapped up a 7-3 victory and gave him the world title.

It was a high quality final - as illustrated by the world-record 42 combined maximums - but there was no doubt that it had been the world number one's day.

Somerset County Gazette:

Speaking after the match, Anderson joked: "This boy [Van Gerwen] will be quite good. I reckon, in two years' time, he'll be the top dog!"

He added: "The year that this man's had, the last 25 tournaments, it's been a walk in the park for him and I think tonight was the same.

"It was well deserved, and if anyone was going to win it, it was going to be Michael.

"I've had a good three years."

Reflecting on the decisive period of the match, he said: "At 2-2 I thought 'right, we're still going', but I just started to drop - if you do that, you're going to get punished.

"We'll have a few more [head-to-heads] though, definitely."