Jelle Klaasen omschreef zijn kwartfinaleplaats op de Ladbrokes UK Open als een ''stap in de goede richting'' om terug in de top 32 van de wereld te komen.
De Nederlander gleed de afgelopen twee jaar van de wereldranglijst af nadat hij in 2017 een operatie aan zijn pols moest ondergaan.
Eerder deze maand haalde Klaasen voor het eerst sinds oktober 2016 een kwartfinale op een TV-toernooi.
Klaasen versloeg op dit toernooi tweevoudig wereldkampioen Gary Anderson, Jason Askew, William Borland en Steve West. In de kwartfinales werd zijn toernooi beëindigd door een nipte 10-9 verlies tegen Daryl Gunrey.
De voormalig Lakeside wereldkampioen gelooft dat zijn zelfvertrouwen en vorm terug beginnen te komen en dat hij weer op weg is naar het hoogste niveau in de sport.
KLAASEN: "Before the tournament started, I think I would have signed for a quarter-final, but I think the way I lost, I was pretty disappointed after the tournament.
If I hit one of the four darts to be 7-4 in front, and start my own leg for 8-4, I think I would have won that game.''
"It's a step in the right direction. I felt comfortable on stage and my wrist is perfect. I'm really happy with my game at the moment. Lately my confidence is growing.
After I had the surgery on my wrist, for the first year I still had a lot of pain. After one year the pain was gone, but also my confidence.
I was losing games that I should have never lost, my confidence wasn't there and it took me a long time to get that confidence back. I was playing small tournaments again in Holland to get some wins and to get that feeling that you can beat people again.
That took a lot of time, almost two-and-a-half years to get my confidence where it needed to be. Last year was the beginning of getting back to the level where I should be - I'm still not there yet but it's slowly getting there."
Klaasen wist zich deze maand ook nog te plaatsen voor de German Darts Grand Prix in München en hoopt erop zijn vorm door te kunnen zetten als de sport weer in actie komt na de platleggen door het COVID-19 virus.
KLAASEN: "I think the European Tours are the most important tournaments for players outside the top 16 of the world.
You can make such big steps for the rankings for the Matchplay and World Grand Prix if you qualify for a lot of Euro Tours, so for me it's a massive thing to qualify for one.
Obviously I wanted to qualify for more but I felt a bit unlucky. This year my goal was to try to get back into the top 32 and you have to qualify for Euro Tours to do that."
Klaasen geeft toe dat het lastig wordt zich te plaatsen voor de World Matchplay, maar zegt: "I would love to qualify.
It's one of my favourite tournaments, I think it's the best location in the world of darts and it would be great to get there.
For me at the end of the year, trying to get into the top 32 is a hard task anyway so that's going to be my goal and everything else is a big bonus."
© Foto's: Professional Darts Corporation (PDC)