Losper wins South African Open

Charles Losper has won the Emperors Palace PDC South African Open - earning himself a place in the PartyBets.com Grand Slam of Darts and Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship.

Losper came out on top in the richest ever tournament staged in South Africa, winning himself a minimum £8,000 in prize money for qualifying for the two major championships later this year.

He was the last man standing from a 155-player field at the Emperors Palace Casino in Johannesburg, with the tournament played in two stages.

Players intially threw for three hours to achieve a leg of 501 in the fewest number of darts, with Roshan Sivraman's 13-darter the best leg posted.

12 players played off for places in the last 16, before the knockout phase continued with the quarter-finals onwards being played on stage.

Wynand Havenga, the 2006 champion who reached the third round of the World Championship last Christmas, missed out on a place in the knockout stage after only being able to post a 17-dart leg on the day.

Losper had hit a 15-dart leg during stage one, and then overcame Sivraman 3-0 in the last 16, Malcolm Moses 3-1 in the quarter-finals and highly-fancied Paul Meyer by the same scoreline in the semis.

He then whitewashed Lodewyk Marais 4-0 in the final, punishing misses from his opponent in winning the first two legs to take command.

A 15-darter, including a neat 76 finish, put him to within a leg of the title, and he completed the victory in style with a 108 finish - hitting treble four, treble 20 and double 18.

Losper, Marais, Meyer and Mike Ryder all now progress to compete in Sunday's Emperors Palace South African Masters against the PDC's top four players.

Losper has drawn defending World Champion Raymond van Barneveld, while Ryder will take on Phil Taylor, Meyer faces Terry Jenkins and Marais will come up against Stan James World Matchplay champion James Wade.

Emperors Palace South African Masters Draw & Bracket

Phil Taylor (1) v Mike Ryder

Terry Jenkins (4) v Paul Meyer

Raymond van Barneveld (2) v Charles Losper

James Wade (3) v Lodewyk Marais