Copenhagen was so nearly wonderful for darts ace Cross
Rob Cross narrowly missed out on winning back-to-back World Series of Darts titles.
The world number six from St Leonards was runner-up in the Mr Vegas Nordic Darts Masters last weekend, just seven days on from winning the US Darts Masters.
And he produced some superb performances in the Danish capital of Copenhagen, including beating world number one Luke Humphries and recording the tournament's highest-ever average.
That came in his high-class 6-4 first-round win over Jeffrey de Graaf on Friday as Cross averaged an excellent 108.9. In fact, his first five winning legs were achieved in 15, 11, 14, 14 and 13 darts.
The 2018 world champion came through another high-scoring contest in Saturday's quarter-finals, beating 16th-ranked Stephen Bunting 6-2 with a 102.61 average. He also landed a 114 checkout.
Cross then defeated world champion Humphries in the semi-finals for the second successive weekend, this time winning 7-4 with a 100.19 average and four 180s.
But the 33-year-old wasn't quite able to make it three Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) titles in the space of a month as he lost 8-5 to Gerwyn Price in the final.
Cross pipped world number four Price 8-7 in the US Darts Masters final, but Price exacted revenge this time around even though Cross conjured up a brilliant 170 checkout and closed from 5-1 down to 5-4.
"Gezzy plays well every week and he deserves that," said a gracious Cross. "It wasn't meant to be tonight, but I'm pleased with my game and I've got a lot to look forward to."