PDC World Championship Quarter-Finals Review

Despite Michael van Gerwen and Phil Taylor exiting the competition at the previous stage, a number of stars remained in the PDC Darts World Championship quarter-finals. These included Raymond van Barneveld, who outed van Gerwen in the previous round, and last year’s champion Garry Anderson. English player James Wade and Adrian Lewis also remained in the competition.

It was van Barneveld who was in action against Michael Smith in the first of the quarter-finals. At one stage it looked like the Dutchman was on his way as he found himself three sets down. However, van Barneveld fought back and went on to win the game 5-4. He will now have his eyes on a second world title, and his first since 2007.

The second match saw Adrian Lewis up against Peter Wright. Lewis had been in excellent form throughout the competition and went into the match as the favourite. Lewis soon found himself 3-0 and although Wright threatened to get back into game, Lewis closed the game and secured a 5-2 win. The semi-final match between Lewis and van Barneveld is too close to call and looks as though it will be thrilling battle.

Defending champion Garry Anderson took on James Wade in what was expected to be the closest match of the round. However, Anderson made light work of his opponent and cruised to a 5-1 win. Anderson is now the bookies favourite to win his second consecutive title.

The final match of the round saw two surprise packages face off. Jelle Klassen, who beat Phil Taylor in the last round faced off against Alan Norris. Although Norris took an early lead and at one point looked like winning the match, Klaasen fought back to secure a 5-4 win and set up a semi-final encounter with Anderson.

With three former winners in the final four, the title is still up for grabs and the latter stages of the competition are promising to throw up some thrilling encounters.