Unbelievable drama at the Alexandra Palace!
Phil Taylor’s reign as World Champion is over, as he was sensationally beaten by Mark Webster….and it means there will be a new name on the PDC World Championship trophy on Monday – only the 5th ever winner!
Raymond van Barneveld was blown away by another sensational performance from Gary Anderson, who is left to battle it out with Terry Jenkins, Adrian Lewis and Webster for the biggest prize in world darts.
But Taylor’s shock exit will be the talk of the sporting world…..but he had no complaints.
“All the credit goes to Mark. He deserved it. The amount of times that he hit a double with the last dart in his hand was tremendous.”
“I am fine with losing,” Taylor added. “He played better than me, it’s as simple as that.”
And as for the future?
“Well, it is a big challenge for me now. I have got to get my head down, work hard and get back to winning titles,” Taylor said.
Webster said: “I said I would play the board, not the man. I tried to get Phil involved in a scrap and that’s what I did. This is the biggest win of my life but now I have to follow it up and try to win the World title.”
You always got the feeling that it was going to be a battle for Taylor and once Webster had battled his way to the first set, winning a deciding leg with an 86 finish, you knew it was game on!
Taylor hit back to level, only for the Welshman to win set three with a 101 finish….the fourth set was absolutely vital….Webster won it against the throw – hitting six perfect darts in the winning leg, which he clinched on ‘tops’
The Power started to show what he can do and he won the sixth set brilliantly, as he pushed his average over the 100 mark.
But it wasn’t to be….despite winning the opening leg of set seven with a 126 on the bull and taking a 2-0 lead, Webster stormed back to win three consecutive legs to take his spot in the semi’s against Adrian Lewis!
It was a huge Ally Pally shock, but Taylor will know that on the night, he was beaten by the better man.
As for Barneveld, well he wasn’t at his best, despite winning the first set, and just couldn’t keep pace with Anderson.
And the Scot will now face another Unicorn star in Terry Jenkins in the semi-finals….but the Dutchman simply couldn’t live with a 102.75 average, ten 180s and a 53 per cent check-out success rate.
He will now head off on holiday to Mexico to recharge the batteries for the challenges ahead in 2011.
He can’t have any complaints though, because when you consider Anderson’s average was only 80 after the first set, the Scot’s average for the next five sets was up at 110! He was that good.
Barney’s defeat means that he may lose his spot in the top four in the world and would have to rely on a wildcard to get in the 2011 Premier League….but if that was the case, he would definitely get a wildcard!
He won a scrappy opening set, despite 12 missed darts at doubles and he took it with a 110 finish….but that was as good as it got for the Unicorn man, who couldn’t live with Anderson.
Barneveld won only five legs in five sets, as the Scot hit the accelerator. In fact, twice Anderson hit six perfect darts but couldn’t go on, although 180 after 180 hurt Barney.
The Dutchman’s average was steady – around the 92, 93, 94 mark but he was unable to find that extra gear to challenge Anderson, who was banging in 11, 12 and 13 dart legs.
And the Scot ended Barney’s misery with a two-dart 81 finish on D12 to reach the semi-finals.
Earlier, Jenkins reached his first ever World Championship semi-final, taking a thriller in the all Unicorn quarter-final against Wes Newton.
‘The Warrior’ battled bravely, but missed nine darts at doubles for a 3 sets to 1 lead and ended up paying a heavy price.
Jenkins won it in the ninth set after Newton had missed more darts to force a tie-break.
Lewis was ruthless in sweeping aside the challenge of Vincent van der Voort – nailing 13x180s and averaging 100 in his comfortable 5-2 victory…..and you just get the feeling that Lewis still has plenty in reserve should he need it!
Quarter-final results:
Gary Anderson 5-1 Raymond van Barneveld
Phil Taylor 2-5 Mark Webster
Wes Newton 4-5 Terry Jenkins
Adrian Lewis 5-2 Vincent van der Voort
Semi-Finals:
Terry Jenkins v Gary Anderson
Mark Webster v Adrian Lewis
• Meanwhile, Team Unicorn Ladies star Irina Armstrong has won through to the semi-finals of the Women’s World Championship…..over at the Lakeside, she beat England’s Lorraine Farlam by 2 sets to nil. ‘The Ice Baby’ kept her cool to win it on D4 and set up a semi-final showdown against multiple World Champion Trina Gulliver.
By STUART PYKE in London
Photos courtesy Lawrence Lustig / PDC