Taylor reclaims title in Germany

Phil Taylor has won every PDC ranking event so far in 2009

Phil Taylor continued his winning run with victory at the German Darts Championships in Halle on Sunday.

The world number one defeated Mervyn King 11-4 in the final.

"It's a great warm-up for the World Championship and it was important for me to keep myself in a winning frame of mind," said Taylor.

Taylor, from Stoke-on-Trent, had earlier beaten local rival Adrian Lewis 8-6 in a magnificent quarter-final, in which both players averaged over 106.

A convincing 9-1 victory over Australian Paul Nicholson followed in the last four, before a win over King sealed the title for the reigning world champion.

Phil was in command of the final right the way through despite how hard I tried and I can only applaud him

Mervyn King

It is the second time that the 49-year-old has won the event.

Taylor added: "I felt I was fortunate in a way to get past the last eight because Adrian Lewis was fantastic, and that took a little bit out of me.

"So to perform so well in the semis and then win the final is very pleasing."

Taylor and King have had a fractious relationship in the past, but the defeated finalist admitted the World Champion was too good on the night.

"Phil was in command of the final right the way through despite how hard I tried, and I can only applaud him," said King.

King, from Bradwell in Norfolk, beat James Wade in the quarter finals, before narrowly beating Raymond Van Barneveld 9-8.

"I played some absolutely fabulous darts on Saturday and the quarter-final was a fantastic game against James.

"The semi-finals and final saw my performances get worse as I went but I'll take the positives from yesterday's games and the quarter-final," he said.

The result pushed King up to fifth in the PDC rankings, leaving him well placed for next week's draw for the World Championships in January.

"I'm going on holiday to Egypt for a week now, but I will be finding a dartboard and practising to make sure I'm ready for the World Championship," he added.