Photo: PDC/Lawrence Lustig
convincing on the Friday against John Part he was able to put his trials
and tribulations behind him and overcome Northern Irishman Brendan
Dolan in comfortable fashion.
“I had to put yesterday’s performance behind me and focus on this
game, and I want to keep improving on Sunday now,” said Hamilton.
“I can look forward to the quarter-finals now and I want to go onwards
and upwards from here. Sometimes you need a bit of luck and I had
that in my first game, so maybe my name is on the trophy.”
The quarter final line-up was competed by Ian White after the Stokebased thrower overcame Terry Jenkins 9-2 in a one sided encounter.
The pair were evenly matched during the early stages, but it was White
who romped away to victory, ending the match with an average of over
97 as he made his way through to the quarter finals.
“I’m very happy with that,” admitted White. “I’m playing some steady
darts at the moment and it’s taken me two years to get used to playing
on the big stage, but it’s starting to pay off now.”
“This is a great win because Terry’s one of the greatest players on the
tour, but I didn’t give him a chance early on and I hit my doubles well.
I couldn’t have asked for a better start and I wanted to stay on top of
Terry.”
“I hit Ian hard early
on and he was
always chasing the
game”
Andy Hamilton
Quarter Finals
Phil Taylor averaged an impressive 111.58 as he defeated Dutch ace
Raymond van Barneveld 9-2 at the quarter final stage of the tournament.
Barneveld took the opening leg of the match, but when Taylor got into
full flow and replied with six straight legs to lead 6-1 it was looking like
being over already.
Barney did manage to pull a leg back, but in the end Taylor just had too
much and he went on to seal the 9-2 victory, taking the last three legs
of the match without reply.
“I’m really happy with that,” said Taylor. “Against Barney you’ve got
to play like that and losing the first leg was the spur I needed to kick
myself into gear.”
Justin Pipe defeated Gary Anderson 9-7 in a close match to reach the
semi-finals of the Players Championship Finals for a second successive
year.
Pipe took out 107 on his way to a 3-0 lead in a superb opening barrage,
before Anderson fought back to trail 5-3. Pipe again extended his lead
to 7-4 only for Anderson to take the next three legs to level the match
at 7-7.
Pipe then secured his victory with a 61 checkout to break throw, before
a 13-dart leg sealed victory.
“I’m over the moon to be in the semis again,” said Pipe. “In a way it
hurts to beat Gary because we travel together on the circuit and practice
together and he’s like my best mate, but I had to be professional and
do the job.”
“Against Barney
you’ve got to play
like that and losing
the first leg was
the spur I needed
to kick myself into
gear”
Phil Taylor