Wessel Nijman beat Rob Cross 8-3 in Bratislava to win the inaugural Slovak Darts Open on Sunday night, adding another PDC ranking title to his outstanding 2026 season.
The Dutchman delivered the decisive performance of the European Tour weekend at the NTC Arena, turning a first staging of the event into another marker of his rapid rise. Cross reached the final after a strong run of his own, but Nijman controlled the title match and finished the job with room to spare.
The PDC described Nijman as “unassailable” after the victory, with the result giving him a remarkable eighth ranking title of the year, according to the official PDC report from Bratislava.
Nijman’s 2026 surge keeps changing the ProTour picture
For NineDartNews readers, the wider significance is clear. Nijman is no longer just a dangerous draw or a form player on the European Tour; he is building a season that makes him impossible to ignore in every major-field conversation.
Cross still leaves Slovakia with useful momentum, but the headline belongs to Nijman. Winning a new event, beating a former world champion in the final and doing it by a five-leg margin gives his latest title extra weight before the next phase of the ProTour calendar.
It also strengthens his case as one of the defining PDC form players of the summer.
