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Krzysztof Ratajski
Krzysztof Ratajski (Polish pronunciation: [ˈkʐɨʂtɔf raˈtajski]; born 1 January 1977) is a Polish professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. His biggest achievement to date was winning the 2017 World Masters. Ratajski has won 10 ranking titles on the PDC Pro Tour and has represented Poland at the PDC World Cup of Darts on numerous occasions. He is the most successful darts player to come from Poland. Together with Krzysztof Kciuk, he is the world record holder in pairs match average. CareerRatajski's first major run came in the 2007 Czech Open where he reached the semi-finals. He gained notable wins over Joey ten Berge and local player Marek Polak, eventually losing to Patrick Loos who won the tournament. He then went on to win the 2008 Denmark Open, defeating Hungary's Nándor Bezzeg, Finland's Marko Kantele and Belgian Geert De Vos en route to the final where he beat Fabian Roosenbrand. On 4 December 2008 Ratajski qualified for the 2009 BDO World Darts Championship, earning one of five spots available. He earned notable wins over former qualifier Ian Jones and Mike Veitch before beating Robbie Green to qualify, becoming the first Polish player to qualify for either world championship. The next day, Ratajski took part in the 2008 Winmau World Masters, but lost in the very first round to Denmark's Stig Jorgensen. Ratajski then lost in the first round of the 2009 World Championship to Edwin Max. Ratajski represented Poland in the inaugural PDC World Cup of darts in partnership with Krzysztof Kciuk. They lost 2–6 in the first round to New Zealand, who were represented by Phillip Hazel and Warren Parry. He did not feature in the tournament again until 2013, once more with Kciuk, and they progressed to the last 16 by finishing second in Group E thanks to beating Gibraltar 5–2.[2] They played the host nation Germany, who were represented by Jyhan Artut and Andree Welge, and were defeated 5–2.[3] He lost in the semi-finals of the 2015 Polish Open 5–2 to Scott Waites.[4] Ratajski made his European Tour debut at the 2015 European Darts Trophy and was edged out 6–5 by Adam Hunt in the first round.[5] He was knocked out 3–2 by Martin Adams in the last 16 of the World Masters.[6] Ratajski played in the BDO World Trophy for the first time in 2016 and lost 6–4 to Scott Waites.[7] He teamed up with Mariusz Paul at the 2016 PDC World Cup of Darts and they were defeated 5–1 by Belgium in the opening round.[8] He qualified for the International Darts Open and was eliminated 6–1 by Chris Dobey in the first round.[9] Ratajski qualified for the 2017 BDO World Darts Championship. He earned his first two wins at the event, including a 3–0 victory over Wesley Harms, before narrowly losing to Darius Labanauskas in the last 16. At the 2017 World Cup, Ratajski and Tytus Kanik lost 5–3 in the first round to the Irish team of Mick McGowan and William O'Connor.[10] At the 2017 World Masters, Ratajski was unseeded and had to start from the first round. He defeated two-time reigning champion Glen Durrant in the quarter-finals, Scotland's Cameron Menzies in the semi-final, and world number one Mark McGeeney 6–1 in the final for his first televised major title. In doing so, Ratajski also guaranteed qualification for the 2018 BDO World Darts Championship, but declined his invitation in favour of an attempt to qualify for the rival 2018 PDC World Darts Championship.[11] He qualified for the latter as the top ranked Eastern European on the PDC Pro Tour.[12] Ratajski competed in his first PDC premier event as a singles player at the 2017 European Championship. He lost 3–6 to Peter Wright in the first round. In the 2018 World Championship Ratajski lost 1–3 to James Wilson despite winning the first set. 2018In January, Ratajski entered Q-School, but failed to gain a tour card. Ratajski played on the 2018 Challenge Tour. Ratajski made the final at event 8 and won event 14.[13] Due to these successes, he was able to play some Players Championship events towards the end of 2018. In February Ratajski became the first Polish player to win a PDC event, defeating Daryl Gurney 6–4 in the final of the sixth UK Open qualifier.[14] Ratajski won a Players Championship event on 20 October 2018, defeating Chris Dobey 6–2 in the final of Players Championship 21, despite not having a tour card.[15] Ratajski also won Players Championship 22 the following day, joining an elite club of only 8 PDC players to win two Players Championship titles in a single weekend by beating Adrian Lewis 6–4.[16] His weekend “double header” win secured him a place at the 2019 PDC World Darts Championship, where he lost to Seigo Asada. Ratajski also made the 2018 Players Championship Finals, where he beat Gerwyn Price and Adrian Lewis before losing to Danny Noppert, and the 2018 Grand Slam of Darts, where he was drawn in Group B. He defeated Raymond van Barneveld and Adam Smith-Neale and losing to Michael Smith, which meant that he went through to the last 16 stage where he lost to Jonny Clayton. Ratajski reached the top 64 on the PDC Order of Merit, which earned him a tour card for 2019. 2023Ratajski received a qualifier for the 2023 PDC World Cup of Darts and for the fifth-time he represented Poland together with Krzysztof Kciuk. On the first day of the tournament, the Poles defeated the Portuguese team (Jose de Sousa and Luis Ameixa) with some difficulty by 4–3 in legs.[17] In the second match of the group stage, the Poles faced the Lithuanian national team (Darius Labanauskas and Mindaugas Barauskas). The Poles defeated their rivals by 4–1 in legs, achieving the world record match average (118.10) of doubles matches.[18] World Championship resultsBDO
PDC
Performance timelinePDC
PDC European Tour
PDC Players Championships
Career finalsBDO major finals: 1 (1 title)
References
External links
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