Rob Cross

3.2.1. Early Professional Milestones and Breakthrough

Cross made his initial impact on the PDC circuit as an amateur qualifier from Rileys at the 2016 UK Open. He impressively reached the last 32, where he was defeated by the then-world number one Michael van Gerwen, who notably achieved a nine-dart finish during their match. Following this, Cross competed in the PDC Challenge Tour, winning three of the 16 events. His strong performance led him to top the Order of Merit, earning him a PDC Tour Card for the 2017 PDC Pro Tour.

In 2017, Cross continued his momentum, reaching the fifth round of the 2017 UK Open before being knocked out by the eventual winner, Peter Wright. The following week, he secured his first PDC title by defeating Mervyn King 6-5 in the final of the third Players Championship. His successful debut year continued with another victory in the 12th event, a 6-5 win over Ian White, who had missed five darts for the title. Cross then added his third Players Championship title (PC19) with a 6-2 win against Peter Wright in Dublin, and swiftly followed up with his fourth (PC21) by defeating Adrian Lewis 6-3, which elevated him into the top 32 of the rankings for the first time.

Cross also reached the finals of two events on the 2017 PDC European Tour, the German Darts Grand Prix and the European Darts Trophy, both of which he lost to Michael van Gerwen. In October, he made his first premier event final appearance at the 2017 European Championship, again falling to Michael van Gerwen.

3.2.2. 2018 PDC World Darts Championship Victory

Cross made his highly anticipated debut at the PDC World Darts Championship as the 20th seed in the 2018 edition. His journey to the final was remarkable: he defeated Seigo Asada, Michael Smith (surviving two match darts), John Henderson, Dimitri Van den Bergh, and in a thrilling semi-final, he overcame Michael van Gerwen after surviving six match darts himself. In the final, held on New Year's Day 2018, Cross delivered a dominant performance, defeating the retiring legend Phil Taylor 7-2 in sets. This triumph made him the only player to have survived match darts in two rounds and still go on to win the World Championship title. His victory propelled him to the third position in the PDC Order of Merit and secured his automatic qualification for the 2018 Premier League Darts.

3.2.3. Major and World Series Titles (2019-Present)

Despite predictions from some pundits of a challenging year due to the pressure of being world champion, Cross made a strong showing in his Premier League debut, reaching the semi-finals. He secured one Players Championship title in 2018 (PC13, defeating Peter Wright in the final) and claimed his first World Series of Darts event, the 2018 Brisbane Darts Masters, by beating Michael van Gerwen 10-6 in the final. Earlier that year, he had reached two other World Series finals in Las Vegas and Shanghai.

In 2019, Cross achieved further major success. He won the 2019 World Matchplay, defeating Michael Smith 18-13 in legs in the final. This victory established him as only the fourth player in history to win both the World Championship and the World Matchplay, joining an elite group that includes Phil Taylor, Michael van Gerwen, and Gary Anderson. On his path to the final, he overcame Chris Dobey (10-3), Krzysztof Ratajski (11-5), Stephen Bunting (16-14), and famously came back from 15-9 down to defeat Daryl Gurney 17-15 in the semi-finals. Later that year, on 27 October, Cross secured his third PDC major title, the 2019 European Championship, with an 11-6 victory over Gerwyn Price in the final.

Cross continued to add to his World Series collection in subsequent years. He notably won his fourth PDC major title at the 2021 European Championship, defeating Michael van Gerwen 11-8 in the final to claim the tournament for a second time. In 2023, after seven previous losses in PDC European Tour finals, Cross finally won his first European Tour title at the 2023 European Darts Grand Prix, where he overcame Luke Humphries 8-6 in the final. He followed this by winning back-to-back titles on the 2023 World Series of Darts, taking the 2023 New Zealand Darts Masters against Nathan Aspinall (8-7) and the 2023 New South Wales Darts Masters against Damon Heta (8-1).

In 2024, Cross secured his second European Tour title by defeating Luke Humphries 8-6 in the final of the 2024 Baltic Sea Darts Open. He also triumphed at the 2024 US Darts Masters, winning a last-leg decider against Gerwyn Price (8-7). Entering 2025, Cross added his fifth World Series title at the 2025 Dutch Darts Masters, where he beat Stephen Bunting 8-5 in the final, marking his first World Series win in Europe. He also claimed victory in the first Pro Tour event of the year, Players Championship 1, defeating Andrew Gilding 7-3 in the semi-finals and Joe Cullen 8-3 in the final.

3.2.4. Annual Performance and Rankings (2019-Present)

In his defense of the world title at the 2019 World Championship, Cross was eliminated in the fourth round, losing 4-2 to Luke Humphries. He reached his third major final and sixth televised final at the 2019 UK Open, but was the runner-up after an 11-4 loss to Nathan Aspinall. Cross also reached his second televised final of the year (fourth major, seventh televised) at the 2019 Premier League Darts, finishing second in the league format. After defeating James Wade in the semi-final, he lost 11-6 to world number one Michael van Gerwen in the final. He also reached his fourth World Series final at the 2019 Brisbane Darts Masters, losing 8-7 to Damon Heta in a last-leg decider.

The 2020 World Championship saw Cross exit in the second round, suffering a 3-0 whitewash loss to Kim Huybrechts. At the 2020 World Series of Darts Finals, Cross reached the final after beating Michael Smith and James Wade, but eventually lost to Gerwyn Price. Representing England alongside Michael Smith, Cross reached the final of the 2020 PDC World Cup of Darts, where they were defeated 3-0 by Wales (Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton).

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

At the 2022 World Championship, Cross began with a 3-1 win against Raymond van Barneveld. In the next round, he defeated Daryl Gurney in a deciding set, sealing the match with a remarkable 170 checkout. However, his campaign ended in the fourth round with a 4-3 loss to Gary Anderson. Cross was unsuccessful in defending his European Championship title at the 2022 edition, losing 6-5 to James Wade in the first round. He also reached the final of the 2022 Players Championship Finals, where he was defeated 11-6 by Michael van Gerwen.

In the 2023 World Championship, Cross reached the fourth round, losing 4-2 to Chris Dobey. He was also the runner-up at the Masters, where he again lost to Dobey. Later in the year, at the Grand Slam, Cross was the runner-up, losing the final 16-8 to Luke Humphries.

At the 2024 World Championship, Cross showed strong form, whitewashing Thibault Tricole 3-0 in the second round and Jonny Clayton 4-0 in the fourth round. He also defeated Jeffrey de Graaf 4-2 and made a remarkable comeback from four sets down to beat Chris Dobey 5-4, reaching the semi-finals. His run ended with a 6-2 loss to Luke Littler in the semi-finals. Cross then lost in the 2nd round of the 2025 World Championship to Scott Williams 3-1.