By Alex Moss
21 MAY 2017 • 8:04PM
James Hurell produced a brilliant comeback to successfully retain the Polish Masters, coming from 3-0 down to beat Krzysztof Ratajski 6-5 in the final this evening.
The Englishman defeated Dutch ace Jeffrey Sparidaans 6-2 to win the tournament last year, and returned to the Hotel Dobosz, in Police, Poland, this weekend looking to try and defend the title.
But Hurrell’s hopes of back-to-back Masters triumphs appeared to be over as he slipped 3-0 behind against home favourite Ratajski in the final.
Poland’s Ratajski, who was bidding to complete a weekend double in his home country, having won the Polish Open yesterday, started the final with three consecutive 17-darters to open up a commanding lead, before a pair of 20-dart legs helped Hurrell to respond and reduce the deficit to just one.
Ratajski then landed a 124 checkout to complete a 12-darter and regain the ascendancy, but Hurrell fought back again with legs of 20 and 13 darts seeing him level the final up at 4-4.
It was Ratajski’s turn to ramp up the pressure on the defending champion in the next leg, as the Polish thrower checked out 81 for an 11-darter to move 5-4 up and one leg away from the title.
However, Ratajski would then spurn match darts over the next two legs, which allowed Hurrell to clinch the title, with the 32-year-old sealing a 6-5 victory with 21 and 19-dart legs.
The win in Poland was Hurrell’s third BDO ranking title success, with his previous victories coming in the Finnish Classic in 2015 and the Polish Masters in 2016.
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