 On the following day he lost to Jermaine Wattimena in Players Championship 6, his earliest loss since he was beaten by Vincent van der Voort at the same stage of Players Championship 19 in 2017.At the first European Tour event of 2018, the European Darts Open, he took his 21st European Tour title with an 8–7 victory over Peter Wright.Van Gerwen and Wright would play each other again in the final of the 2018 German Darts Grand Prix, with Van Gerwen prevailing once again by a scoreline of 8–5.