Niko Springer won the final of the Hungarian Darts Trophy 2025 on Sunday evening with an 8-7 victory against Danny Noppert.
"I'm over the moon, to be honest, it was a tough match," the 25-year-old said in an interview on stage after his victory:
"I took my chances, I'm very happy, I can't believe it."
For Springer, it is the first title of his PDC career.
Last year's runner-up on the Development Tour has only held a Tour Card since the start of the year.
The "Meenzer Bub" reached his first PDC final at the Dutch Darts Championship at the end of May, but lost to Jonny Clayton.
On his way to the final, Springer impressed against a series of strong opponents. After an opening win against Gian van Veen, he triumphed over Damon Heta.
After that, Rob Cross and world number one Luke Humphries were no match for the man from Mainz.
The semi-final against a fancied Josh Rock was only decided in the final 13th leg.
The final did not provide the greatest spectacle. Both players had problems with accuracy and scattered a lot. At 2-2, Noppert finally broke Springer's throw.
The Dutchman held on to this lead until the score was 5-4, before Springer managed to break back.
A further break later, the match went into a decider at 7-7. Noppert didn't manage much in the decider, so Springer celebrated victory without any pressure.
After Max Hopp, Ricardo Pietreczko and Martin Schindler, Springer is now the fourth German to win a title on the European Tour.
Price cancels - Schindler loses to Littler
Gerwyn Price cancelled his participation in the final session at short notice.
The Welshman was plagued by health problems, and although he won against Raymond van Barneveld in the afternoon, he cancelled his quarter-final against Luke Littler in the evening due to medical reasons.
That meant Littler received a bye to the next round, where an out-of-sorts performance saw him lose 7-4 to Noppert.