Thornton and Justin Pipe respectively. Van Barneveld put his bad form behind him in October by securing his first ranking title of 2013 at the tenth Players Championship of the year with a 6–3 defeat of Peter Wright in the final. However, less than a week later in the second round of the World Grand Prix he was beaten 3–0 by Michael van Gerwen in 21 minutes. In the defence of his Grand Slam of Darts title he beat Ricky Evans and Tony O'Shea, but lost his final group game against Mervyn King to be knocked out of the competition on leg difference. 2014 season: Premier League glory Van Barneveld took a 3–2 lead in sets over Mark Webster in the third round of the 2014 World Championship, but afterward exited the tournament losing 4–3. He had a poor run of form in the UK Open Qualifiers to be placed 66th on the Order of Merit meaning he entered the tournament in the first-round stage. Van Barneveld had four comfortable victories to reach the fifth round where he was beaten 9–2 by Adrian Lewis. He produced some of his most consistent darts in years during the Premier League as he remained unbeaten for 12 matches during the season to finish second in the table. In the semi-finals he secured his first win over Phil Taylor in the tournament after 21 attempts, having fought back from 4–1 down to triumph 8–5. It was the first time he had advanced beyond the semi-finals of the event, after losing at this stage in six previous years. Van Barneveld then won four successive legs from 5–5 in the final against Michael van Gerwen and went on to win the title 10–6. His finishing proved to be the difference between him and the rest of the nine players as throughout the 18 matches his checkout percentage was 50.22, seven percent higher than Simon Whitlock in second place. Afterwards, Van Barneveld revealed he had received therapy for depression in January due to the monotony of travelling and playing in events every week. At the World Cup of Darts, Van Barneveld and Van Gerwen produced a 117.88 average in their doubles decider against Northern Ireland to whitewash them 4–0 and meet England's Taylor and Lewis in the final. Van Gerwen defeated Taylor 4–0 and Van Barneveld recorded the same scoreline against Lewis. Van Gerwen went into his