The Sports Lowdown For All Your News and OpinionsRaymond van Barneveld secured a last-leg victory over fellow Dutchman Michael van Gerwen on quarter-finals night as he along with James Wade, Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis complete the semi-final line-up.
Raymond van Barneveld won a last-leg decider to knock World Number One Michael van Gerwen out of the Auckland Darts Masters. van Gerwen raced into a 3-0 lead before the Dutchman missed two darts at double to move 5-1 up, but Barney stepped in to hit D10 for 4-2. Checkouts of 96 and 47 helped van Barneveld turn the match on its head and take the lead 5-4. van Gerwen hit D5 and spectacularly took out 167 to regain the lead. In the fourteen leg, van Gerwen missed two match darts at D8, allowing Barney to take out 64 to force a last-leg decider, and a edgy one it was. With van Gerwen sat on a double, van Barneveld dramatically took out 84 on the bull to win the match.
James Wade booked his place in the semi-finals tomorrow with an 8-5 win over Peter Wright. The first two legs went against the throw before the first turning point came in the sixth leg. ‘Snakebite’ missed three darts at double before Wade stepped in to move 4-2 up. Wright broke back in the ninth leg to move back to 5-4, taking out 121 on the bull. However, ‘The Machine’ restored his two leg cushion breaking straight back in the tenth leg. The Matchplay finalist then went on to claim the match with a 99.33 average.
Phil Taylor is still in the hunt for a fourth World Series title after an 8-3 win over Simon Whitlock. The Aussie got off to a poor start, allowing Taylor to break in the second leg, taking out 89. ‘The Power’ then held in the third leg with a perfect 170 checkout before moving 7-0 up and within one leg of an 8-0 whitewash. Whitlock then started to up his game, taking out 135 on D20 after a slight hesitation to check his score. A 47 checkout followed in the ninth leg before he pulled back another leg, taking out 100. However, that was as many legs at Whitlock was going to get as Taylor wrapped it up in the eleventh leg, hitting D10 for the match.
Adrian Lewis and Gary Anderson faced off for the third time this summer in the World Series, and this time it was ‘Jackpot’ who booked his places in the semi-finals. Lewis broke in the first leg, taking out 65 before holding throw on D16 for 2-0. Anderson had six perfect darts on the Lewis throw in leg six, but still lost the leg as Lewis hit D4 to move 4-2 up. Gary Anderson took out a skillfull 126 on the bull, but that didn’t stop Lewis nailing 87 in the tenth leg and hitting D16 in the twelfth to win the match 8-4. ‘Jackpot’ averaged 100.23 in the win and hit 67% of his doubles.
