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Rob Cross
English darts player (born 1990) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Robert Cross (born 21 September 1990) is an English professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is currently ranked world number six; he reached a peak ranking of world number two in 2018 and 2019. Nicknamed "Voltage", Cross is a former PDC World Champion, defeating Phil Taylor in the 2018 World Championship final after turning professional less than a year beforehand. He has won three other PDC major titles: the 2019 World Matchplay and the European Championship in 2019 and 2021. He has also won five World Series of Darts titles. Cross has won a total of twenty-one PDC titles in his professional career; sixteen ranking and five non-ranking.
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Before turning professional he reached the last 32 at the UK Open, losing there to Michael van Gerwen, and won four titles on the PDC Challenge Tour in 2016, which earned him his PDC Tour Card.
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BDO career
2015
In October 2015, Cross attempted to qualify for the 2016 BDO World Darts Championship, where he was knocked out in the last 64 by Tony Martin.[2] He also competed in the 2015 World Masters, losing to Darius Labanauskas in the last 48.[3]
PDC career
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2016
Cross competed in the 2016 UK Open as an amateur Rileys qualifier; making it to the last 32 before falling to world number one Michael van Gerwen, who achieved a nine-dart finish in the process.[4][5] Following this, he competed in the PDC Challenge Tour, winning three of the 16 events and ultimately topping the Order of Merit, consequently earning a Tour Card for the 2017 PDC Pro Tour.[6][7]
2017
At the 2017 UK Open, Cross reached the fifth round before being knocked out by the eventual winner Peter Wright.[8] The following week, he won his first PDC title by defeating Mervyn King 6–5 in the final of the third Players Championship.[9] His first year on the tour continued positively, winning the 12th event with a 6–5 victory over Ian White, who missed five darts for the title.[10] Cross then beat Peter Wright 6–2 in the 19th Players Championship in Dublin and quickly added his 4th Players Championship (PC21) with a 6–3 win against Adrian Lewis to move into the top 32 for the first time.
Cross reached the final of two events in the 2017 PDC European Tour, the German Darts Grand Prix and the European Darts Trophy, both times losing to Michael van Gerwen.[11][12] He reached his first premier event final in October at the 2017 European Championship, again losing to van Gerwen.[13]
2018
Cross made his PDC World Darts Championship debut as the 20th seed. He reached the final at the event, beating Phil Taylor 7–2 on New Year's Day 2018, following wins over Seigo Asada, Michael Smith (in which Cross survived two match darts), John Henderson, Dimitri Van den Bergh and Michael van Gerwen (in which Cross survived six match darts). In the final he defeated Taylor, who had previously announced that he would retire after the tournament,[14] 7–2 in sets.[15] He is the only player to have survived match darts in two rounds and then go on to win the World title.[16] Winning the World Championship meant that he finished at number 3 in the PDC Order of Merit and earned automatic qualification for the 2018 Premier League Darts.[17]
Cross was tipped by a few pundits to have an off year as they thought that the pressure of being world champion would get to him, despite this he made a good showing on his Premier League debut making it to the semi-finals. However, he only won one players' championship title in comparison to 2017 where he won 4, he won players' championship 13 by defeating Peter Wright in the final and he won his first World Series event which was the Brisbane Darts Masters by defeating Michael Van Gerwen 10–6 in the final. He had made two previous World Series finals that year: Las Vegas and Shanghai.
2019
In defence of his world title at the 2019 World Championship, Cross lost to Luke Humphries 4–2 in the fourth round.
Cross made his 3rd major final and 6th televised final at the 2019 UK Open in Minehead. Cross was the eventual runner-up at the tournament, as he lost to Nathan Aspinall 11–4.[18]
Cross made his second televised final of the year (4th major, 7th televised) at the 2019 Premier League Darts. After finishing 2nd in the league format, Cross went to the O2 in London for the Play-Offs. He took on James Wade in the semi-final and was successful in victory. He then took on World No. 1, Michael van Gerwen in the final, losing 11–6.
He won the World Matchplay, defeating Michael Smith 18–13 in legs in the final. Cross became only the fourth player to ever win the World Championship and World Matchplay (previously achieved by Phil Taylor, Michael van Gerwen and Gary Anderson).[19][20] On his way to the final he beat Chris Dobey 10–3, Krzysztof Ratajski 11–5, Stephen Bunting 16–14 and Daryl Gurney 17–15, (from 15–9 down in the semi-finals).[21]
Cross reached his 4th World Series final at the 2019 Brisbane Darts Masters. He lost to Damon Heta in a last leg decider 8–7.
On 27 October, Cross won his 3rd PDC major title, the 2019 European Championship, beating Gerwyn Price 11–6 in the final.[22]
2020
Cross was eliminated in the second round of the 2020 World Championship, winning only two legs in a 3–0 loss to Kim Huybrechts.[23]
At the World Series of Darts Finals, Cross beat Michael Smith and James Wade en route to the final, before eventually succumbing to Gerwyn Price.[24] Cross and Michael Smith, representing England, reached the final of the World Cup of Darts, where they were defeated 3–0 by Wales (Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton).[25]
2021
Cross suffered another early exit at the 2021 World Championship, losing to Dirk van Duijvenbode 3–2 in the second round.[26]
Cross won his fourth PDC major title at the 2021 European Championship, beating Michael van Gerwen in the final 11–8 to win the tournament for a second time.[27]
2022
At the 2022 World Championship, Cross started his campaign with a 3–1 win against Raymond van Barneveld.[28] In the next round, he beat Daryl Gurney in a deciding set, finishing the match with a 170 checkout.[29] He was defeated 4–3 by Gary Anderson in the fourth round.[30]
Cross was unsuccessful in his defence of the European Championship, losing to James Wade 6–5 in the first round.[31] Cross reached the final of the Players Championship Finals but lost 11–6 to Michael van Gerwen.[32]
2023
At the 2023 World Championship Cross reached the fourth round, losing to Chris Dobey 4–2.[33] He was the runner-up at the Masters where he again lost to Dobey.[34]
After seven previous losses in PDC European Tour finals, Cross won his first European Tour title at the 2023 European Darts Grand Prix, defeating Luke Humphries 8–6 in the final.[35] He also won back-to-back titles on the 2023 World Series of Darts, winning the New Zealand Darts Masters and the New South Wales Darts Masters.[36][37]
At the Grand Slam, Cross was the runner-up, losing the final to Luke Humphries 16–8.[38]
2024
At the 2024 World Championship, Cross whitewashed Thibault Tricole in his second-round match 3–0, won against Jeffrey de Graaf 4–2 in the third round, whitewashed Jonny Clayton 4–0 in the fourth round and came back from four sets down to defeat Chris Dobey 5–4 to reach the semi-finals.[39] He lost his semi-final to Luke Littler 6–2.[40]
In May, Cross defeated Luke Humphries 8–6 in the final of the Baltic Sea Darts Open to win his second European Tour title.[41] He also won the US Darts Masters, winning a last-leg decider to beat Gerwyn Price 8–7.[42]
2025
Cross suffered an early exit at the 2025 World Championship, losing 3–1 to Scott Williams in the second round.[43]
Cross won his fifth World Series title at the 2025 Dutch Darts Masters, defeating Stephen Bunting 8–5 in the final.[44] It was his first World Series title in Europe.[45] He was victorious in the first Pro Tour event of the year, Players Championship 1, with a 7–3 win over Andrew Gilding in the semi-finals before beating Joe Cullen 8–3 in the final.[46] Cross achieved his first televised nine-dart finish on night five of the 2025 Premier League in his 6–5 semi-final loss to Nathan Aspinall.[47]
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Personal life
Cross spent the majority of his early life living in Edenbridge, Kent. He was an electrician before turning professional. His nickname, "Voltage", comes from his former profession.[48]
World Championship results
PDC
- 2018: Winner (beat Phil Taylor 7–2)
- 2019: Fourth round (lost to Luke Humphries 2–4)
- 2020: Second round (lost to Kim Huybrechts 0–3)
- 2021: Second round (lost to Dirk van Duijvenbode 2–3)
- 2022: Fourth round (lost to Gary Anderson 3–4)
- 2023: Fourth round (lost to Chris Dobey 2–4)
- 2024: Semi-finals (lost to Luke Littler 2–6)
- 2025: Second round (lost to Scott Williams 1–3)
Career finals
PDC major finals: 11 (4 titles)
PDC World Series finals: 10 (5 titles)
PDC team finals: 1
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Performance timeline
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PDC European Tour
PDC Players Championships
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Nine-dart finishes
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References
External links
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