Rob Cross (darts player)

Rob Cross
Rob Cross
	Cross in 2017
Personal information
Full name	Robert Cross
Nickname	"Voltage"
Born	21 September 1990 (age 34); Pembury, Kent, England
Home town	Hastings, England
Darts information
Playing darts since	2001
Darts	21g Target Rob Cross
Laterality	Right-handed
Walk-on music	"I Don't Wanna Wait" by David Guetta and OneRepublic
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO	2015–2016
PDC	2016– ; (Tour Card: 2017–)
WDF	2015–2016
Current world ranking	4 (3 October 2024)
WDF major events – best performances
World Masters	Last 48: 2015
PDC premier events – best performances
World Ch'ship	Winner (1): 2018
World Matchplay	Winner (1): 2019
World Grand Prix	Last 16: 2019, 2021
UK Open	Runner-up: 2019
Grand Slam	Runner-up: 2023
European Ch'ship	Winner (2): 2019, 2021
Premier League	Runner-up: 2019
PC Finals	Runner-up: 2022
Masters	Runner-up: 2023
Champions League	Group Stage: 2018, 2019
World Series Finals	Runner-up: 2020
Other tournament wins
Baltic Sea Darts Open	2024
European Darts Grand Prix	2023
Players Championship (BAR)	2017 (x2), 2021, 2022 (x2)
Players Championship (DUB)	2017
Players Championship (LEI)	2023
Players Championship (MK)	2017
Players Championship (WIG)	2018
Brisbane Darts Masters	2018
New South Wales Darts Masters	2023
New Zealand Darts Masters	2023
US Darts Masters	2024
PDC Challenge Tour	2016 (x3)
Other achievements
	2016 Finishes first on PDC Challenge Tour Order of Merit 2017 Breaks into the top 32 on the PDC order of merit for the first time (debut year on circuit) 2018 Breaks into the top 4 in the PDC order of merit for the first time 2018 Becomes the first player to win the PDC world championship at first attempt (barring players who have played in the BDO world championship)

Robert Cross (born 21 September 1990) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is currently ranked No. 4 in the world. Nicknamed "Voltage", he became the 2018 PDC World Darts Champion following his victory over Phil Taylor. Cross won the World Championship on his debut, having turned professional just 11 months prior to the event.

Cross also won the World Matchplay in 2019 and the European Championship in 2019 and 2021. He is the current US Darts Masters champion.

BDO career

2015

In October 2015, Cross attempted to qualify for the 2016 BDO World Darts Championship, where he was knocked out in the last 64 by Tony Martin.^[2] He also competed in the 2015 World Masters, losing to Darius Labanauskas in the last 48.^[3]

PDC career

2016

Cross competed in the 2016 UK Open as an amateur Rileys qualifier; making it to the last 32 before falling to world number one Michael van Gerwen, who achieved a nine-dart finish in the process.^[4]^[5] Following this, he competed in the PDC Challenge Tour, winning three of the 16 events and ultimately topping the Order of Merit, consequently earning a Tour Card for the 2017 PDC Pro Tour.^[6]^[7]

2017

At the 2017 UK Open, Cross reached the fifth round before being knocked out by eventual winner Peter Wright.^[8] The following week, he won his first PDC title by defeating Mervyn King 6–5 in the final of the third Players Championship.^[9] His first year on the tour continued positively, winning the 12th event with a 6–5 victory over Ian White, who missed five darts for the title.^[10] Cross then beat Peter Wright 6–2 in the 19th Players Championship in Dublin and quickly added his 4th Players Championship (PC21) with a 6–3 win against Adrian Lewis to move into the top 32 for the first time.

Cross reached the final of two events in the 2017 PDC European Tour, the German Darts Grand Prix and the European Darts Trophy, both times losing to Michael van Gerwen.^[11]^[12] He reached his first premier event final in October at the 2017 European Championship, again losing to van Gerwen.^[13]

2018

Cross made his World Championship debut in 2018 as the 20th seed, reaching the final against Phil Taylor following wins over Seigo Asada, Michael Smith (in which Cross survived two match darts), John Henderson, Dimitri Van den Bergh and Michael van Gerwen (in which Cross survived six match darts). In the final he defeated Taylor, who had previously announced that he would retire after the tournament,^[14] 7–2 in sets.^[15] He is the only player to have survived match darts in two rounds and then go on to win the World title.^[16] Winning the World Championship meant that he finished at number 3 in the PDC Order of Merit and earned automatic qualification for the 2018 Premier League Darts.^[17]

Cross was tipped by a few pundits to have an off year as they thought that the pressure of being world champion would get to him, despite this he made a good showing on his Premier League debut making it to the semi-finals. However, he only won one players championship title in comparison to 2017 where he won 4, he won players' championship 13 by defeating Peter Wright in the final and he won his first World Series event which was the Brisbane Darts Masters by defeating Michael Van Gerwen 10–6 in the final. He had made two previous World Series finals that year: Las Vegas and Shanghai.

2019

In defence of his world title at the 2019 World Championship, Cross lost 4–2 in the fourth round to Luke Humphries.

Cross made his 3rd major final and 6th televised final at the 2019 UK Open in Minehead. Cross was eventual runner-up at the tournament, as he lost heavily to Nathan Aspinall.

Cross made his second televised final of the year (4th major, 7th televised) at the 2019 Premier League Darts. After finishing 2nd in the league format, Cross went to the O2 in London for the Play-Offs. He took on James Wade in the semi-final and was successful in victory. He then took on World Number One, Michael van Gerwen in the final. He eventually lost the tournament by 11–6.

He won the World Matchplay against Michael Smith by beating him 18–13 in legs. Cross became only the fourth player to ever win the World Championship and World Matchplay (previously achieved by Phil Taylor, Michael van Gerwen and Gary Anderson). On his way to the final he beat Chris Dobey, Krzysztof Ratajski, Stephen Bunting and Daryl Gurney, (from 15–9 down in the semi-finals).

Cross reached his 4th World Series Final at the 2019 Brisbane Darts Masters. He lost to winner Damon Heta in a last leg decider 8–7.

On 27 October 2019, Cross won his 3rd major PDC title, the European Championship, beating Gerwyn Price 11–6 in the final in Göttingen, Germany.

2020

Cross had a poor showing in the 2020 World Championship, losing to Kim Huybrechts 3–0 in the second round.

At the World Series of Darts Finals he beat Michael Smith and James Wade en route to the final, before eventually succumbing to Gerwyn Price.

2021

Cross suffered another early exit at the 2021 World Championship, losing to Dirk van Duijvenbode 3–2 in the second round.

Cross won his 4th PDC major at the 2021 European Darts Championship beating Michael van Gerwen in the final 11–8.

2022

At the 2022 World Championship, Cross started his campaign with a 3–1 win against Raymond van Barneveld. In the next round he beat Daryl Gurney in a last set decider, before eventually succumbing 4–3 to Gary Anderson in the fourth round.

2023

At the 2023 World Championship Cross reached the fourth round, losing to Chris Dobey 4–2.

At the Grand Slam, Cross was the runner-up, losing the final to Luke Humphries 16–8.

2024

At the 2024 World Championship Cross whitewashed Thibault Tricole in his second round match 3–0, won against Jeffrey de Graaf 4–2 in the third round, whitewashed Jonny Clayton 4–0 in the fourth round and came back from 4 sets down to defeat Chris Dobey 5–4 to reach the semi-finals.^[18] He lost his semi-final to Luke Littler 6–2.^[19]

Personal life

Cross spent the majority of his early life living in Edenbridge, Kent. He was an electrician before turning professional. His nickname, "Voltage", comes from his former profession.^[20]

World Championship results

PDC

2018: Winner (beat Phil Taylor 7–2)
2019: Fourth round (lost to Luke Humphries 2–4)
2020: Second round (lost to Kim Huybrechts 0–3)
2021: Second round (lost to Dirk van Duijvenbode 2–3)
2022: Fourth round (lost to Gary Anderson 3–4)
2023: Fourth round (lost to Chris Dobey 2–4)
2024: Semi-finals (lost to Luke Littler 2–6)

Performance timeline

Tournament	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
Ranked televised events
PDC World Championship	DNP		W	4R	2R	2R	4R	4R	SF
UK Open	4R	5R	QF	F	QF	5R	4R	QF	QF
World Matchplay	DNP	2R	2R	W	1R	2R	2R	1R	QF
World Grand Prix	DNP	1R	1R	2R	1R	2R	1R	1R
European Championship	DNP	F	QF	W	1R	W	1R	2R
Grand Slam of Darts	DNP	QF	2R	2R	2R	QF	2R	F
Players Championship Finals	DNP	SF	1R	3R	2R	3R	F	2R
Non-ranked televised events
Premier League Darts	DNP		SF	F	9th	9th	DNP		6th
The Masters	DNP		QF	1R	1R	2R	2R	F	2R
Champions League of Darts	DNP	DNQ	RR	RR	NH
PDC World Cup of Darts	DNQ		QF	2R	F	DNQ		QF	DNQ
World Series of Darts Finals	DNQ	QF	2R	2R	F	DNP		QF	QF
Career statistics
Year-end ranking	173	20	2	2	4	10	6	6

PDC European Tour

Season	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
2017	GDC DNQ	GDM DNQ	GDO QF	EDG QF	GDT QF	EDM DNQ	ADO 2R	EDO QF	DDM 3R	GDG F	IDO 2R	EDT F
2018	EDO 3R	GDG QF	GDO SF	ADO QF	EDG 3R	DDM WD	GDT QF	DDO 3R	EDM 2R	GDC QF	DDC DNP	IDO DNP	EDT QF
2019	EDO F	GDC 3R	GDG SF	GDO SF	ADO 3R	EDG 2R	DDM WD	DDO 2R	CDO DNP	ADC DNP	EDM QF	IDO F	GDT 3R
2020	BDC 3R	GDC 3R	EDG QF	IDO 2R
2021	HDT 3R	GDT 2R
2022	IDO 1R	GDC F	GDG 3R	ADO QF	EDO 2R	CDO F	EDG F	DDC 2R	EDM QF	HDT 2R	GDO 3R	BDO 3R	GDT SF
2023	BSD 2R	EDO SF	IDO QF	GDG 2R	ADO 3R	DDC 2R	BDO 3R	CDO SF	EDG W	EDM 3R	GDO 2R	HDT 2R	GDC QF
2024	BDO F	GDG 3R	IDO 3R	EDG SF	ADO 2R	BSD W	DDC DNP	EDO 2R	GDC DNP	FDT DNP	HDT 3R	SDT 3R	CDO

PDC Players Championships

Season	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30
2017	BAR 1R	BAR 3R	BAR W	BAR 3R	MIL 4R	MIL 3R	BAR 1R	BAR 3R	WIG 3R	WIG 3R	MIL SF	MIL W	WIG SF	WIG SF	BAR 3R	BAR 4R	BAR 2R	BAR 2R	DUB W	DUB 4R	BAR W	BAR 3R
2023	BAR 3R	BAR 3R	BAR 3R	BAR 3R	BAR 1R	BAR 2R	HIL 1R	HIL 1R	WIG 1R	WIG 2R	LEI W	LEI 4R	HIL 1R	HIL 2R	LEI 3R	LEI 2R	HIL 3R	HIL QF	BAR 3R	BAR QF	BAR 2R	BAR DNP	BAR DNP	BAR DNP	BAR QF	BAR 3R	BAR 3R	BAR 2R	BAR SF	BAR 4R
2024	WIG 2R	WIG 2R	LEI 1R	LEI 1R	HIL DNP	HIL DNP	LEI 2R	LEI 4R	HIL DNP	HIL DNP	HIL DNP	HIL DNP	MIL DNP	MIL DNP	MIL 2R	MIL 1R	MIL 2R	MIL DNP	MIL DNP	WIG 4R	WIG 1R	MIL 4R	MIL 4R	WIG	WIG	WIG	WIG	WIG	LEI	LEI

Performance Table Legend
W	Won the tournament	F	Finalist	SF	Semifinalist	QF	Quarterfinalist	#R RR Prel.	Lost in # round Round-robin Preliminary round	DQ	Disqualified
DNQ	Did not qualify	DNP	Did not participate	WD	Withdrew	NH	Tournament not held	#R RR Prel.	Lost in # round Round-robin Preliminary round	NYF	Not yet founded

Career finals

PDC major finals: 11 (4 titles, 7 runners-up)

Legend
World Championship (1–0)
World Matchplay (1–0)
Grand Slam (0–1)
Premier League (0–1)
UK Open (0–1)
The Masters (0–1)
European Championship (2–1)
Players Championship Finals (0–1)
World Series of Darts Finals (0–1)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score^{[N 1]}	Ref.
Runner-up	1.	2017	European Championship	Michael van Gerwen	7–11 (l)	^[13]
Winner	1.	2018	World Darts Championship	Phil Taylor	7–2 (s)	^[21]
Runner-up	2.	2019	UK Open	Nathan Aspinall	5–11 (l)	^[22]
Runner-up	3.	2019	Premier League	Michael van Gerwen	5–11 (l)	^[23]
Winner	2.	2019	World Matchplay	Michael Smith	18–13 (l)	^[24]
Winner	3.	2019	European Championship	Gerwyn Price	11–6 (l)	^[25]
Runner-up	4.	2020	World Series of Darts Finals	Gerwyn Price	9–11 (l)	^[26]
Winner	4.	2021	European Championship	Michael van Gerwen	11–8 (l)	^[27]
Runner-up	5.	2022	Players Championship Finals	Michael van Gerwen	6–11 (l)	^[28]
Runner-up	6.	2023	The Masters	Chris Dobey	7–11 (l)	^[29]
Runner-up	7.	2023	Grand Slam of Darts	Luke Humphries	8–16 (l)

PDC World Series finals: 9 (4 titles, 5 runners-up)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score^{[N 1]}
Runner-up	1.	2018	US Darts Masters	Gary Anderson	4–8 (l)
Runner-up	2.	2018	Shanghai Darts Masters	Michael Smith	2–8 (l)
Winner	1.	2018	Brisbane Darts Masters	Michael van Gerwen	11–6 (l)
Runner-up	3.	2019	Brisbane Darts Masters	Damon Heta	7–8 (l)
Winner	2.	2023	New Zealand Darts Masters	Nathan Aspinall	8–7 (l)
Winner	3.	2023	New South Wales Darts Masters	Damon Heta	8–1 (l)
Winner	4.	2024	US Darts Masters	Gerwyn Price	8–7 (l)
Runner-up	4.	2024	Nordic Darts Masters	Gerwyn Price	5–8 (l)
Runner-up	5.	2024	Poland Darts Masters	Luke Littler	3–8 (l)