“I relaxed and let James off the hook, and I should have kept the
pressure on. Not every game will be a convincing win, but I’m just glad
to get through.”
“James is getting back to his best and I’m pleased for him.”
In the fourth quarter final Adrian Lewis showed just how far he had
come on his return to form over recent months as he denied Kim
Huybrechts a spot in the semis.
Lewis raced into an early 6-1 lead, only to find himself pegged back to
7-5 by Huybrechts who was rapidly growing into the game.
Lewis however had another gear and pulled further clear, eventually
sealing the win 16-11 having landed no less than 12 maximums.
“I’m delighted to be through because it was a tough game,” said Lewis.
“I started like a train, but Kim came back well and took his chances.”
“Even when he made it 13-10, I always felt I had another gear and I
put him back under pressure, but I felt in control for the majority of
the match.”
“I’m playing really well at the minute, I’m enjoying my darts and
playing with a lot of confidence, so I’m looking forward to the semis.”
Semi-Finals
Photo: PDC/Lawrence Lustig
With the prospect of facing two matches in a day the four remaining
players began preparations early on the morning of the final day of
competition, with Robert Thornton and Scott Waites being the first up
on stage to face off in their semi-final.
Waites was unable to recapture the form that had seen him through
this far and Thornton took full advantage of some early misses from the
BDO star to move into a 6-2 lead.
Waites fought back, narrowing the gap to 8-7, but it was Thornton who
was still producing the better darts, and the Scotsman ran away with
the match claiming eight of the ten remaining legs to secure a 16-9
victory.
“I’m very happy to be in the final and I really enjoyed the game,” said
Thornton.”It was a hard game and Scott kept coming back at me and
pulled some brilliant legs out.”
“I came out very aggressively, my scoring was good and my finishes
were going in, and I think I took him back a bit, but half way through
the match he started kicking in and played some unbelievable darts.”
“I gave myself a kick up the backside when he got back to 8-7, and
thankfully I managed to get the job done.”
“I’m really enjoying myself and we’ll see what happens in the final
now. I’ll take it one leg at a time and I’ll give it my all.”
If the first semi-final was good then the second was on another darting
planet. Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis treated fans to a display of darts
that will go down as one of the great matches of Grand Slam, if not
PDC history.
The scoreline said 16-9 to Taylor when all was said and done, but this
“We both got
really wrapped up
in the game and
you lose track of
what scores have
been hit, but I
loved it”
Phil Taylor