This has got to be the best World Championship ever!
On another dramatic night at the Alexandra Palace, Raymond van Barneveld fought back to pip Colin Osborne in a classic all Unicorn match and Vincent van der Voort pulled off a stunning victory over last year’s runner-up Simon Whitlock.
And Team Unicorn ace Wes Newton is also celebrating after a brilliant 4-0 win over Austrian Mensur Suljovic. It is the first time that Newton – the self-styled ‘Warrior’ has reached the World Championship quarter-finals and he will face Terry Jenkins!
But Barney will now take on Gary Anderson in a mammoth match in the quarter-finals, while Adrian Lewis will face Van der Voort.
But Barneveld, with that terrific victory, has become the first man to win 20 matches at both the BDO and PDC World Championships….quite an achievement.
Osborne gave it a mighty go!
Barneveld won the first set with a 104 finish and then missed three darts for a two set lead! Osborne seized the moment and levelled the match, before taking a 2-1 lead, as the Dutchman really struggled on his doubles.
But he started to show some signs in the fourth set….a trademark 156 finish, followed by three 180s and it was two sets all…..but Osborne is a real battler!
The derby man nailed a 111 check-out and took the set after more missed doubles from Barneveld. At that stage, the five-times World Champion had missed 26 darts at doubles.
But he then showed immense ‘Dutch Courage’ and no little amount of bottle, winning six out of the next seven legs to finally break Osborne’s spirit and book his spot in the last eight.
At the start of the deciding set, Barneveld hit six perfect darts but couldn’t go on! He won it in 11 darts though to break the throw and that was crucial.
A 9th 180 took him to the finishing line and D8 won it with a 97 average.
“What happened there?!” he said. “Colin played well and put me under pressure. Maybe I wasn’t as focused as I should have been in the early stages. But I was fighting for my life out there and I fought very hard.”
So what about the quarter-final with Anderson, who has been the player of the tournament so far with three huge ton plus averages…..
“He has been brilliant. A great player and a great guy but maybe I have to break his arm to win!!” Barney joked.
And what a moment for Wes Newton – a World Championship quarter-final at the end of the best year of his career….and of course, an all Unicorn clash with Terry Jenkins!
“It is an unbelievable feeling,” he admitted. “I am in the last eight of the greatest tournament of them all. I kept my cool out there and found the big shots when it mattered.”
Newton added: “It will be some game against Terry, especially with so much at stake, but I’ll be ready and hopefully I can make the perfect start to 2011.”
And he deserves his success….he is of course, now guaranteed at least £25,000 in prize money and Newton is up to a career high No.12 in the world rankings.
Suljovic won only five legs in the match. He couldn’t reproduce the form that took him past James Wade in the last round.
The opening set went to a deciding leg but Wes struck gold with his first maximum and a 13 darter! He breezed through set two and at that stage he was enjoying a 67 per cent check-out success rate.
It got better for Newton, as two more 180s took him out to a three set advantage and he was brilliant again in the fourth set!
The biggest win of Newton’s career sealed on D16….an impressive 97 average and some brilliant finishing – 12/19 – 63 per cent
Well done Wes!
On Thursday afternoon, Gary Anderson and the Team Unicorn duo of Terry Jenkins and Adrian Lewis were in sensational form, booking their places in the quarter-finals.
Jenkins averaged 99 and demolished Mark Walsh 4-0 in his best TV performance for over a year.
Lewis banged in nine 180s, with a 101 average, as he thrashed Robert Thornton 4-1 in just 50 minutes.
And Anderson averaged a phenomenal 108.39, with 10x180s, as he lost only four legs in trouncing Andy ‘The Pie Man’ Smith 4-0.
Thursday 3rd Round results:
Simon Whitlock 2-4 Vincent van der Voort
Raymond van Barneveld 4-3 Colin Osborne
Mensur Suljovic 0-4 Wes Newton
Adrian Lewis 4-1 Robert Thornton
Andy Smith 0-4 Gary Anderson
Terry Jenkins 4-0 Mark Walsh
Quarter-Finals – New Year’s Day (best of 9 sets):
Afternoon session:
Terry Jenkins v Wes Newton
Adrian Lewis v Vincent van der Voort
Evening session:
Gary Anderson v Raymond van Barneveld
Phil Taylor v Mark Webster
By STUART PYKE in London
Photos courtesy Lawrence Lustig / PDC