the next set, allowing Anderson to tie the scores at 4–4. In Anderson's first visit to the board at the beginning of the ninth set he hit two treble 20s, but his third dart knocked them out of the bed to score nothing. He lost the leg and became distracted by a member of the audience shouting out to be two legs down, before punishing more missed darts from Taylor to claim the set. Anderson stood one set away from the title when he made it 6–4, but Taylor quickly recovered to send the match into a deciding set. Taylor had three darts to hold his throw in the second leg, but could not find the target as Anderson took the final set without reply to win his first World Championship 7–6. The match broke the record for 180s in a PDC final with 32, beating the 31 thrown during the 2007 final. Anderson's total 180s during the whole tournament of 64 was also a record. The title saw him climb to world number three, his highest position to date. Later in the month he was crowned the PDC Player of the Year, Pro Tour Player of the Year, Fans' Player of the Year and Players' Player of the Year at the annual awards dinner. Rest of season At the Masters, following wins over Andy Hamilton, 10–2, and James Wade, 10–5, in which Anderson averaged 121 in the first five legs, he lost 11–6 to Raymond van Barneveld in the semi-finals. Anderson began his Premier League campaign with a 7–5 win over Phil Taylor. He was beaten 6–2 in the final of the German Darts Championship by Michael van Gerwen. From 8–4 ahead of Mervyn King in the third round of the UK Open, Anderson missed a total of 13 match darts to be defeated 9–8. In week six of the Premier League, Anderson secured a superb 7–1 win over Adrian Lewis, with a 109 average, and continued his form into that weekend by beating James Wade 6–5 to win the first Players Championship event of the year. On his first competitive return to Scotland as world champion, Anderson overcame Kim Huybrechts 7–5 in week seven of the Premier League. He missed double 12 for a nine darter in the last leg. After a 6–6 draw in week nine with Van Barneveld, with a 108 average, Anderson sat third in