Jonny Tata and Nicole Regnaud claimed the singles titles as the WDF tour made its first stop of the year in New Zealand for the Silver-ranked Canterbury Classic.
JT gets back in the winners' circle
Jonny Tata looks to be recapturing the form that took him to a Lakeside quarter-final in 2023, defeating Landon Gardiner in the final to claim his first WDF title since 2022.
The final was a close, back-and-forth affair that began with three steady holds of throw before the last seven legs of the match all went against the darts.
Tata took the opening leg with a 72 out and established a 3-1 lead thanks to another combination finish, this time 76. Gardiner, who played at Lakeside in 2022, nipped back at him with breaks of his own, including a match-best 15-darter to make it 4-3, but was unable to string more than one leg together to restore parity.
Instead it went the way of Tata, who sealed a 6-4 victory with a 16-darter, ending with two maximums, an 80.17 average and 50% on the doubles.
Tata had impressed in the previous point-scoring rounds, dropping just four legs in total across confident victories over Jamie Hamill, Richard Taylor, Dean Reyland and Darren Dummigan.
Gardiner, meanwhile, had swept past the likes of Josh Walters and Craig Caldwell to reach his first WDF final since 2021.
WDF Canterbury Classic | Men's Quarter-Finals
Darren Dummigan 4-3 Mark Cleaver
Jonny Tata 4-1 Dean Reyland
Landon Gardiner 4-0 Joshua Walters
Craig Caldwell 4-2 Emilio Hovell
Semi-Finals
Tata 5-1 Dummigan
Gardiner 5-2 Caldwell
Final
Tata 6-4 Gardiner
Regnaud retains her title in impressive fashion
Nicole Regnaud continues to be the dominant force in women's darts in New Zealand, retaining her Canterbury Classic title to take her overall tally to 18.
It wasn't all plain sailing for 'Renegade' though, as she had to survive multiple match darts in the Last 16 against Verna-Leigh Brinsdon.
After that she began to find more daylight, defeating Tara Mears 4-2 in the last eight before beating Olivia Curreen 4-1 to setup a final against the fast-improving Chenesse Kauika.
Kauika had seen off the likes of Desi Mercer and Wendy Harper to reach the title decider but made a slow start, going 3-1 down as Regnaud pinged in an 80 finish and a 15-darter.
Regnaud moved within a leg of the title thanks to 19-darter but then saw three match darts go begging as Kauika cut the deficit to 4-2. She couldn't make further inroads though, Regnaud eventually finding double nine to seal a 5-2 victory with a 70.8 average and two maximums.
WDF Canterbury Classic | Women's Quarter-Finals
Nicole Regnaud 4-2 Tara Mears
Olivia Curreen 4-3 Taylor-Marsh Kahaki
Chenesse Kauika 4-3 Desi Mercer
Wendy Harper 4-2 Hanuere Pene
Semi-Finals
Regnaud 4-1 Curreen
Kauika 4-0 Harper
Final
Regnaud 4-2 Kauika
