Defending Champion Phil Taylor and young pretender Adrian Lewis both won nail-biting all Unicorn clashes to reach the quarter-finals of the Players Championship Finals.
Lewis won an absolute thriller against Andy Hamilton, where yet again, we saw the very best and the very worst of young ‘Jackpot’
And Terry Jenkins came agonisingly close to beating Taylor but ‘The Power’ squeezed through in another deciding leg.
Colin Osborne was also a Saturday night winner, as he brushed aside the challenge of Michael van Gerwen and it means another all Unicorn quarter-final against Wes Newton.
It’s as close as Taylor has come to losing in a TV ‘Major’ for some time but he dominated the decider and D16 took him through to a clash with Colin Lloyd
It was pure darting drama – terrific tungsten theatre!
Jenkins gave it a really good go and he will look back at twice breaking the Taylor throw, only to lose the next leg on each occasion.
“I thought I had him halfway through the match and it is very frustrating because I had a chance and I didn’t take it.” Jenkins said.
Taylor was breathing a huge sigh of relief. “In the end, winning the bull in the practice room proved to be crucial.”
He added: “I am just happy to win because I haven’t prepared that well or practiced that much since I won the World Championship.”
180s in legs three and seven gave Jenkins crucial breaks of the Taylor throw but on each occasion ‘The Power’ hit back to level. At 4-4, Taylor found a 160 finish but Jenkins kept fighting.
A fifth 180 from ‘The Bull’ and D16 made it 6-6 and he levelled again after Taylor missed one dart at D20 for an 8-6 win.
But the deciding leg was very one-sided and Taylor stumbled over the finishing line to end the Jenkins dream.
Taylor averaged 99.90 to Jenkins 93.45 but Jenkins came so close to causing a big upset at The Circus.
And Hamilton came within a millimetre of winning but it’s Lewis who goes through to face another all Unicorn showdown in the quarter-finals against Paul Nicholson.
The two of them set an incredible pace. After eight legs, Lewis was 5-3 in front with an average of 105. He started the match with seven perfect darts, won it in 10, hit a 120 finish, just missed the bull fort a 170 and his 180 tally had reached six!
Hamilton was averaging 100 at this stage, with four maximums of his own and in the fourth leg, he hit six perfect darts with back-to-back 180s.
It really was that good.
Lewis had missed three darts to 6-2 in front and as the drama intensified, seven out of the first ten legs were won against the throw.
‘Jackpot’ lost concentration yet again though and Hamilton could sense his opponent was struggling. Lewis’s average dropped ten points and he missed a dart to win 8-5. Instead Hamilton hit back and a fifth 180 and D8 helped take the match to a nail-biting deciding leg.
Hamilton threw first in the last leg and with Lewis sat on 56, ‘The Hammer’ stepped up needing 136 to win it. He hit the two treble 20s and wired D8 for the match!
Lewis stepped up and finally hit D20 to snatch an amazing win.
“That D8 will haunt me,” said Hamilton. “When the dart left my hand, I thought it was in all the way. That was my chance but I can’t be too disappointed, because it was a great match.”
“I was lucky,” admitted Lewis. “Yet again I lost concentration and nearly paid the price. But I dug in and found a way to win.”
Osborne took control early on….he hit a brilliant 160 finish with Van Gerwen sat on 32…that put him 2-1 in front and after that, he didn’t look back.
We saw some more magic tungsten from ‘The Wizard’ along the way, as he reeled off six consecutive legs from two apiece to book his quarter-final spot.
Back-to-back 180s in the 8th leg broke Van Gerwen again and broke the Dutchman’s resistence and D4 finished off a terrific performance from Osborne.
“I have to be pleased with that,” Osborne said. “The 160 finish was a big moment in the match and I just grew in confidence. It should be some game against Wes because he is in good touch as well.”
In the other game on Saturday night, Mervyn King averaged 101 in thrashing Jelle Klaasen 8-1
Saturday 2nd Round results (best of 15 legs):
Adrian Lewis 8-7 Andy Hamilton
Jelle Klaasen 1-8 Mervyn King
Phil Taylor 8-7 Terry Jenkins
Colin Osborne 8-2 Michael van Gerwen
Steve Beaton 5-8 Paul Nicholson
Colin Lloyd 8-4 Kevin Painter
Mark Walsh 5-8 Wayne Jones
Wes Newton 8-7 Ronnie Baxter
Sunday Quarter-Finals – 1pm (best of 17 legs)
Paul Nicholson v Adrian Lewis
Wes Newton v Colin Osborne
Phil Taylor v Colin Lloyd
Wayne Jones v Mervyn King
By STUART PYKE in Purfleet (Twitter @stuartpykesport)
Photo courtesy Lawrence Lustig / PDC