but the Welshman took out 71% of his shots at doubles to defeat Anderson 10–6 and he lost in the same stage of the Players Championship Finals 10–4 to Daryl Gurney. 2016 Second World Championship title In the defence of his title, Anderson reached the final of the 2016 World Championship without facing any troubles following wins over Andy Boulton, Daryl Gurney, Vincent van der Voort, James Wade and Jelle Klaasen with the loss of just two sets. In the semi-finals, he won 6–0 over Jelle Klaasen with a 107 average and threw a nine-dart finish in the opening set. He played Adrian Lewis in a rematch of the 2011 final and hit a 170 finish in the penultimate leg, before hitting double 12 (the same double which he hit to win his first World Championship) to retain his title with a 7–5 win, a reversal of the scoreline from five years ago. 34 180s were thrown which is a record in a professional match. Anderson became the 11th player to win more than one World Championship and joined Eric Bristow, Raymond van Barneveld and Lewis in being the only players to have successfully defended their first world title. Rest of season Anderson took the fourth UK Open Qualifier with a 6–1 victory over James Wade, but at the main event suffered a huge surprise fourth round loss as amateur Barry Lynn won 9–3. He finished third in the Premier League to qualify for the semi-finals and rallied from 8–4 down against Phil Taylor to trail by one leg, but would be beaten 10–7. Anderson had an exceptional year in the invitational World Series events as he claimed the Dubai Masters, Auckland Darts Masters and Tokyo Darts Masters. He reached the semi-finals of the World Matchplay for the second time, but lost 17–8 to Taylor. Anderson's second Pro Tour title of 2016 was the 12th Players Championship which he won by edging out Terry Jenkins 6–5. Anderson's first major final after the World Championship came at the World Grand Prix which he got to without dropping more than one set against Jamie Caven, Kyle Anderson, Kim Huybrechts and Raymond van Barneveld. However, he was powerless to stop Michael van Gerwen from capturing the title with a 5–2 win. Anderson was whitewashed 6–0 by Wade in the first round of the European Championship, averaging just 77.40. In his next event, the