It was an opening night of shocks in Wolverhampton, as the Unicorn duo of Gary Anderson and Raymond van Barneveld both suffered surprise setbacks.
Terry Jenkins also slumped to defeat, while defending Grand Slam champion Scott Waites was another loser and Ted Hankey was whitewashed 5-0 by Dean Winstanley!
But James Wade managed to win a thriller and he looked in good touch.
An average of 100.63 and a performance to match….but last year’s beaten finalist had to be at his best against an impressive Dave Chisnall.
Unicorn’s World No.3 nailed a brilliant 161 finish to break and lead 2-1, only to see his opponent hit back with an 11 darter!
Chisnall took charge at 4-3, but then missed one dart at ‘tops’ to take it 5-3 and he didn’t get another chance, as Wade made the most of his escape.
He hit D10 at the fourth attempt to force the deciding leg and started it with a first 180…..perfect timing and he clinched victory on the same target that his opponent had missed earlier.
It will surely prove to be a crucial win as Wade looks at a place in the GSOD knock-out stages.
Anderson was 2-0 up against Nigel Heydon and missed darts to go 3-1 in front and take control….and he certainly paid a hefty price.
At one stage, he had hit 3 doubles from 15 attempts and it wasn’t good enough in a game that he really should have won.
Heydon took out 121 on the bull to win the match and for Anderson, there’s no going back. He has to beat Brendan Dolan now to stay in the GSOD.
Barneveld slipped to a shock defeat against virtual unknown Ian White, who is only in the tournament as a lucky loser!
The Dutchman is highly fancied for a good run at Wolverhampton, but on this occasion, he missed a trick and he missed chances.
White is only playing because Simon Whitlock withdrew from the GSOD with a broken ankle…..And he led Barney 3-1, before the Unicorn man got the match back on level terms.
The turning point came in the seventh leg, when Barneveld missed four darts at ‘tops’ to break and go ahead and saw his opponent take out 90 on the bull……the match went to a deciding leg and despite Barney’s first 180, White hit D19 to claim a shock win.
Barneveld now has to beat Ted Hankey on Sunday night to stay in the Grand Slam.
Terry Jenkins cut a sorry figure after his heavy defeat to Justin Pipe….he went 4-0 down and there was no coming back from that.
The turning point came in the third leg when incredibly, he managed to bust 121 and then saw Pipe nail a 117 finish….it was a body blow and ‘The Bull’ never recovered.
Pipe won it on D8 and Jenkins, who reached the Grand Slam Final in 2008 is now struggling to survive in the 2011 event.
Saturday night results:
Group (C)
Wayne Jones 5-2 Brendan Dolan
Gary Anderson 3-5 Nigel Heydon
Group (A)
Mark Walsh 5-2 Tony O’Shea
Scott Waites 3-5 Michael van Gerwen
Group (B)
Dean Winstanley 5-0 Ted Hankey
Raymond van Barneveld 4-5 Ian White
Group (D)
James Wade 5-4 Dave Chisnall
Terry Jenkins 1-5 Justin Pipe
Sunday afternoon Order of Play:
Paul Nicholson v Barrie Bates (Group F)
Wes Newton v Magnus Caris (Group F)
Mark Webster v Arron Monk (Group G)
Vincent van der Voort v Co Stompe (Group H)
Mervyn King v Steve Beaton (Group E)
Phil Taylor v James Hubbard (Group E)
Adrian Lewis v Martin Phillips (Group H)
Jan Dekker v John Part (Group G)
By STUART PYKE in Wolverhampton
Photos Lawrence Lustig / PDC