Rob Cross (darts player)

Robert Cross (born 21 September 1990) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He became the 2018 PDC World Darts Champion following his victory over Phil Taylor. Cross won the World Championship on his debut, having turned professional just 11 months prior to the event.

Rob Cross
Cross in 2017
Personal information
NicknameVoltage
Born (1990-09-21) 21 September 1990
Pembury, Kent, England
Home townHastings, East Sussex, England
Darts information
Playing darts since2001
Darts21g Target Rob Cross
LateralityRight-handed
Walk-on music"Hot Hot Hot" by Arrow
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO2015
PDC2016–
Current world ranking4 1 (3 January 2021)[1]
BDO majors – best performances
World MastersLast 48: 2015
PDC premier events – best performances
World Ch'shipWinner (1): 2018
World MatchplayWinner (1): 2019
World Grand PrixLast 16: 2019
Grand SlamQuarter Final: 2017
Premier LeagueRunner Up: 2019
European Ch'shipWinner (1): 2019
UK OpenRunner Up: 2019
Players Ch'ship FinalsSemi Final: 2017
MastersQuarter Final: 2018
Champions LeagueGroup Stage: 2018, 2019
World Series FinalsRunner Up: 2020
Other tournament wins
PDC Challenge Tour 2016 (x3)

Players Championships

Players Championship (BAR) 2017 (x2)
Players Championship (DUB) 2017
Players Championship (MK) 2017
Players Championship (WIG) 2018

World Series of Darts

Brisbane Darts Masters 2018
Other achievements
2016 Finishes first on PDC Challenge Tour Order of Merit

2017 Breaks into the top 32 on the PDC order of merit for the first time (debut year on circuit)

2018 Breaks into the top 4 in the PDC order of merit for the first time

2018 Becomes the first player to win the PDC world championship at first attempt (barring players who have played in the BDO world championship)
Cross during the 2017 German Darts Grand Prix

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

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 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 World Championship debut in 2018 as the 20th seed, reaching the final against Phil Taylor 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 different rounds and then go on to win the World title.[16] He became the 10th player to win the World Championship at the first attempt. 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 Micheal 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 4-2 in the fourth round to Luke Humphries.

Rob Cross made his 3rd major final and 6th televised final at the 2019 UK Open in Minehead. Cross was eventual runner-up at the tournament, as he lost heavily to Nathan Aspinall.

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 Number One, Michael van Gerwen in the final. He eventually lost the tournament by 11-6.

He won the World Matchplay against Michael Smith by beating him 18-13 in legs. 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). On his way to the final he beat Chris Dobey, Krzysztof Ratajski, Stephen Bunting and Daryl Gurney, (from 15-9 down in the semi-finals).

Cross reached his 4th World Series Final at the 2019 Brisbane Darts Masters. He lost to winner Damon Heta in a last leg decider 8-7.

On 27 October 2019, Cross won his 3rd major PDC title, the European Championship, beating Gerwyn Price 11-6 in the final in Göttingen, Germany.

2020

Cross had a poor showing in the 2020 World Championship, losing to Kim Huybrechts 3-0 in the second round.

At the World Series of Darts Finals he beat Michael Smith and James Wade on route to the final, before eventually succumbing to Gerwyn Price.

2021

Cross suffered another early exit at the 2021 World Championship, losing to Dirk van Duijvenbode 3-2.

Personal life

Cross spent the majority of his early life living in Edenbridge, Kent. He was an electrician before turning professional. His nickname of "Voltage" comes from his former profession.[10] His darts career started as a darts team player in the Powder Monkey, Wallsend.[18]

Cross has four children. In April 2020, Cross lost his grandfather due to COVID-19.[19]

World Championship results

PDC

Performance timeline
Tournament201620172018201920202021
Ranked televised events
PDC World Championship DNP W 4R 2R 2R
UK Open 4R 5R QF F QF
World Matchplay DNP 2R 2R W 1R
World Grand Prix DNP 1R 1R 2R 1R
European Championship DNP F QF W 1R
Grand Slam of Darts DNP QF 2R 2R 2R
Players Championship Finals DNP SF 1R 3R 2R
Non-ranked televised events
Premier League Darts DNP SF F 9th
The Masters DNP QF 1R 1R 2R
Champions League of Darts DNP DNQ RR RR NH
PDC World Cup of Darts DNQ QF 2R F
World Series of Darts Finals DNQ QF 2R 2R F
Career statistics
Year-end ranking 173 20 2 2 4
Performance timeline legend
DNP Did not play in the event #R lost in the early rounds of the tournament
(RR = Round robin)		 QF lost in the quarter-finals
SF lost in the semi-finals F lost in the final W won the tournament

Career finals

PDC major finals: 6 (3 titles, 3 runners-up)
Legend
World Championship (1–0)
World Matchplay (1–0)
Premier League (0–1)
European Championship (1–1)
UK Open (0–1)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score[N 1] Ref.
Runner-up 1. 2017 European Championship Michael van Gerwen 7–11 (l) [13]
Winner 1. 2018 World Darts Championship Phil Taylor 7–2 (s) [20]
Runner-up 2. 2019 UK Open Nathan Aspinall 5–11 (l)
Runner-up 3. 2019 Premier League Michael van Gerwen 5–11 (l)
Winner 2. 2019 World Matchplay Michael Smith 18–13 (l)
Winner 3. 2019 European Championship Gerwyn Price 11–6 (l)

PDC World Series finals: 5 (1 title, 4 runners-up)
Legend
World Series of Darts Finals (0–1)
World Series of Darts (1–3)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score[N 1]
Runner-up 1. 2018 US Darts Masters Gary Anderson 4–8 (l)
Runner-up 2. 2018 Shanghai Darts Masters Michael Smith 2–8 (l)
Winner 1. 2018 Brisbane Darts Masters Michael van Gerwen 11–6 (l)
Runner-up 3. 2019 Brisbane Darts Masters Damon Heta 7–8 (l)
Runner-up 4. 2020 World Series of Darts Finals Gerwyn Price 9–11 (l)

PDC team finals: 1 (1 runner-up)
Outcome No. Year Championship Team Teammate Opponents in the final Score[N 1]
Runner-up 1. 2020 World Cup of Darts  England Michael Smith  Wales – Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton 0–3 (m)

References
  1. (l) = score in legs, (s) = score in sets, (m) = score in matches.
  1. "PDC Order of Merit". PDC.tv. 3 January 2021. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
  2. "2015 BDO World Championship Qualifiers Results". DartsDatabase.
  3. "2015 World Masters Results". DartsDatabase.
  4. "UK Open amateurs Rob Cross and Barry Lynn make impression in Minehead". Sky Sports News.
  5. "2016 Coral UK Open Fourth Round". PDC. Retrieved 5 March 2016.
  6. "Cross and Searle Secure Tour Cards". PDC. 13 September 2016.
  7. Kiernan, Matthew. "The 2016 UK Open Rileys Qualifiers – What Happened Next?". Rileys Sports Bars.
  8. "2016 Coral UK Open Day Two". PDC. Archived from the original on 4 March 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  9. "Players Championship Three Latest". PDC. Archived from the original on 13 March 2017. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  10. "Cross Edges White For Second Title". PDC. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
  11. "Imperious Van Gerwen's German Glory". Professional Darts Corporation. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
  12. "Van Gerwen Seals 20th Euro Tour Title". Professional Darts Corporation. Retrieved 15 October 2017.
  13. Allen, Dave. "Four-Some Van Gerwen's European Glory". PDC. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
  14. PA Sport (27 January 2017). "Darts legend Phil Taylor announces 2017 will be his last on PDC circuit". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  15. "The trip that turned Rob Cross from pub player to world darts champion". Guardian. 2 January 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  16. "Rob Cross beats Phil Taylor 7-2 to win PDC World Darts Championship – as it happened". Guardian. 1 January 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  17. "Rob Cross: 'After the world darts final it was like I'd hit rock-bottom'". Guardian. 10 December 2018. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
  18. Prenderville, Paul (2 January 2018). "Rob Cross won the World Darts title but who is he and how has his spectacular year unfolded?". Sky Sports. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  19. "Family tragedy inspiring returning Rob Cross". PDC.tv. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  20. "PDC World Darts 2018: Rob Cross beats Phil Taylor 7–2 to win title". BBC Sport. 1 January 2018. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
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