PDC World Darts Cham
over Gary Anderson. Indeed Anderson could consider himself unlucky
not to have taken out the eventual champion, but in the end he lost
4-3 despite a 99 average.
Simon Whitlock made short work of dispatching an out of sorts Kevin
Painter 4-0, meanwhile Wes Newton set up a quarter final clash with
Peter Wright after producing his best display of the week to defeat
Robert Thornton 4-1.
Ian White’s excellent form continued as the Stoke-based thrower
overcame Richie Burnett in a seven set thriller to reach a PDC major
quarter final for the first time, and there was joy too for a resurgent
Mark Webster who took out Raymond van Barneveld in a deciding set.
Photo: PDC/Lawrence Lustig
In the final two matches of the third round Adrian Lewis, who defeated
Mervyn King 4-1 despite being well below his best, set up a quarter
final clash with James Wade who returned to top form as he averaged
over 99 in defeating Devon Petersen 4-0.
Quarter Finals
Peter Wright continued his excellent run in the tournament as
he overcame Wes Newton 5-4 in a thriller to reach his first World
Championship semi-final.
Newton took the opening two sets of the match, before being pegged
back to 2-2 by an improving Wright. Newton regained the lead by taking
the fifth set 3-2, but by now Wright was well and truly in the match and
he hit back in the sixth to level the match once more.
Photo: PDC/Lawrence Lustig
Wright led for the first time after taking the seventh set 3-1, only for
Newton to reply in kind in the eighth, thus forcing the match into a
crucial deciding set.
Wright looked to be on course for the match having taken the opening
two legs of the decider, only to be pegged back to 2-2 by a battling
Newton before another pair of traded legs saw the duo level at 3-3.
Wright landed tops on his own throw to regain the lead, before
completing the victory with a superb 121 checkout on the bull in the
eighth leg.
“I need someone to pinch me to see if I’m not dreaming!” said Wright.
“It was very tight and it was enjoyable that I could battle it out even
if I wasn’t on top form.”
“It was a battle, a scrap but I’ve learned a lot in the past five or six
Photos: PDC/Lawrence Lustig