to relax and enjoy the game, and if I got chances I knew I needed to
take them.”
“I’m a winner and I want to win every single week, and I know that if I
play my game like I did tonight, then I can beat anyone. I know I can do
it, I played well today; my doubles were good, my finishes were good
and my triples were good, so why can’t I go all the way?”
Semi-Finals
The first of Sunday nights semi-finals was a controversial affair from
the outset, with James Wade seeming to struggle to find top form
against Phil Taylor. Things were to get rapidly worse for Wade, who
having broken a stem went to his case for a replacement, removed the
flight from the dart, replaced the stem and went to replace the same
flight which he had discarded on the table only moments earlier.
The flight in question was nowhere to be found however, with subsequent
replays showing that Taylor had discarded the flight, passing it to a
member of the audience after mistakenly believing that Wade was
going to replace it.
“Phil was fantastic,
I had a couple of
chances early on
but Phil punished
me, and if you
don’t take your
chances you’ll be
out of the game,
because you can’t
give him chances”
Adrian Lewis
Wade however insisted that the flight was recovered
and replaced it onto his dart to carry on with
the match. He continued to struggle to find
form after the incident and could be seen
complaining to the on stage officials as
the players left for the first break with
Taylor leading 4-1.
Taylor then claimed the next six legs
to seal a 10-1 victory, after which
it emerged that Wade had asked
to forfeit the match following the
incident.
If the first semi-final was somewhat
overshadowed
by
‘flightgate’
then the second semi-final was a
demonstration of why darts is such
a pleasure to watch.
Adrian Lewis raced into a 3-1 lead
over Raymond van Barneveld, before
the Dutchman recaptured his good form
from earlier in the tournament to fight
back, regaining the lead at 5-4.
The pair then traded the next eight legs, with
a superlative 154 checkout from Lewis being
cancelled out by an equally good 143 from Barneveld
in the very next leg.
With Barney on the brink at 9-8 it was left for an in form Lewis to
find arguably his best darts of the tournament, with the European
Champion landing a 13-darter to level, before sealing the match with
a 116 checkout after his opponent had left a double.
Photo: PDC/Lawrence Lustig