phil taylor claimed his 16th and last world championship title with a 7–4 victory over michael van gerwen in the final, despite trailing 0–2 and then 2–4 after six sets. taylor won five sets in a row for the win. van gerwen averaged between 105 and 108 in the early sets but as his average never dropped, taylor's average levelled off at 103 as did his ascendancy over a rival he admitted in the post-match interview was 'hard to crack'.