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Champions League of Darts: Outsider Mensur Suljovic beats Gary Anderson

Mensur Suljovic stunned two-time world champion Gary Anderson to win the 2017 Champions League of Darts in Cardiff.

The 45-year-old world number seven had been seen as an outsider coming into the tournament, but he held his own in a tense final for an 11-9 victory.

The Austrian won all five matches over the weekend including a 10-3 win over Anderson in the group stages.

Suljovic was left with his favourite double 14 to win the tournament, which he checked out at the second attempt.

Anderson averaged 98.03 in the final, which was live on BBC Two, while Suljovic's was a below-par 87.85, but took 11 of his 30 attempts at double as his finishing helped him to victory.

An emotional Suljovic told BBC Sport after his victory: "It's a perfect feeling.

"I never thought I could win this tournament. Gary is a brilliant player, I have so much respect for this guy. I never gave up."

Suljovic booked his place in the final with a superb 160 finish to defeat Raymond van Barneveld 11-9 in the last four, having topped group B thanks to impressive wins against Anderson, UK Open champion Peter Wright and Dave Chisnall.

Earlier on Sunday, defending champion Phil Taylor set up a semi-final against Anderson by defeating world champion Michael van Gerwen 10-9 in a repeat of the 2016 final.

But Taylor, who is retiring at the end of the season, was defeated 11-6 by Anderson in the semi-final.

Scot Anderson could not quite match his heavy scoring from earlier in the day as Suljovic won the first televised PDC major of his career in the second year of the tournament's history.

Anderson had almost missed out on a place in the semi-finals to fellow Scot Wright, but he held his nerve to pin double top and win 10-9 after Wright missed double 12 for victory in the afternoon session.

"The man [Suljovic] has been brilliant in the last two years, phenomenal," Anderson, 46, said.

"He's been the best player this weekend and he deserves it. He's brilliant."