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Mark Webster heads to the World Championship in good form after reaching his first PDC major final at Doncaster Dome on Sunday.

Webster defeated Dave Chisnall and Wes Newton on a demanding final day at the Players Championships, but was unable to brush off the challenge from Kevin Painter, who claimed the title.

The Welshman will now turn his attentions to the Alexandra Palace, where he faces compatriot Richie Burnett on the opening night.

He said: “I’ve got to pick myself up because I’ve got my first round game in the Ladbrokes World Championship to play on Thursday night. If I can become World Champion again this will be forgotten about.”

Webster dug deep to win a dramatic quarter final against Chisnall, winning a last leg decider for the second consecutive day to claim a 9-8 victory.

He then turned on the style in the semi as a display of high scoring and sharp finishing saw him ease past Wes Newton with a 10-7 win.

Webster outscored Painter on 140s and matched him on 100s in the final, but three ton-plus finishes from The Artist proved to be the difference.

As runner up, the Welshman collected a cool £24,000 but, more importantly, his run to the final could prove to be ideal preparation for the World Championships.

James Wade will now also focus on success at Ally Pally after suffering a quarter final defeat at the  hands of Scott Rand.

The Machine can count himself unlucky, having being eliminated despite scoring the second highest average of all the quarter finalists.

He said: “I didn’t play well enough to win and he did a good job to beat me. I’ll regroup from this and get ready for the World Championship now.”

Wade will play either Per Laursen or Petri Korte in his first round tie on Monday 19^th December.