It should be some game…..the Unicorn duo of Phil Taylor and Wes Newton will go head-to-head in the next stage of the Grand Slam on Friday night in Wolverhampton.
‘The Power’ topped his group after an impressive 5-3 win over Mervyn King.
It was a result that sent King out of the tournament and allowed Steve Beaton to qualify for the 2nd Round.
And it is Team Unicorn’s Paul Nicholson who will do battle with Beaton in the last 16 at the Wolves Civic.
Nicholson qualified for the knock-out stages for the first time after completing a third successive victory, but he was made to work very hard for it by Sweden’s Magnus Caris.
Taylor was 2-1 down against King but hit back strongly as he chases a fourth Grand Slam title, while Newton was a comfortable 5-1 winner against good friend Barrie Bates.
And for a time, it looked like Newton may avoid Taylor….Caris led Nicholson 4-3 and looked to be heading for a victory, which would have meant Newton topping the group and Nicholson lining up against Mr Taylor!
But ‘The Asset’ hit back brilliantly in a match where both players averaged over 100…..a fabulous 144 finish levelled the game, when his opponent was sat on 72, and a fifth 180 helped him clear in the deciding leg, although it took him five darts to finally hit the winning D16.
“That was a big win for me,” he said. “It means a lot to get through by winning the group. Magnus pushed me all the way. I will have to play extremely well against Steve Beaton, because we all know that on his day, he can be brilliant….but bring it on!”
Newton won four straight legs to go through with an average of 94.31……Taylor did what he had to do. “That was proper darts,” he said. “I really enjoyed myself and these group games have done me a power of good. I can’t wait for the sudden death stuff now.”
But Arron Monk’s GSOD ended with another defeat, as he was beaten 5-3 by John Part…..it was a win that ultimately took the Canadian through to the knock-out stages after his closest rival Jan Dekker lost out to Mark Webster.
Part’s reward is a 2nd Round clash with World Champion Adrian Lewis, while Webster will face an all Wales showdown against Martin Phillips.
Phillips saw off Co Stompe 5-2 in their winner-takes-it-all group match on Wednesday night.
Yet again, we saw flashes of what Monk is capable of, but he couldn’t maintain it throughout the match….Monk actually led 2-1, before Part found his form, hitting three 180s in three legs.
The Unicorn Youth World Champion actually missed one dart at ‘tops’ to force a deciding leg, before Part won it on D8.
Wednesday Group results:
Adrian Lewis 5-2 Vincent van der Voort
Wes Newton 5-1 Barrie Bates
Steve Beaton 5-2 James Hubbard
John Part 5-3 Arron Monk
Co Stompe 2-5 Martin Phillips
Phil Taylor 5-3 Mervyn King
Mark Webster 5-3 Jan Dekker
Paul Nicholson 5-4 Magnus Caris
Thursday 2nd Round schedule (best of 19 legs):
Dean Winstanley v Mark Walsh
Michael van Gerwen v Ted Hankey
Gary Anderson v James Wade
Terry Jenkins v Wayne Jones
By STUART PYKE at the Grand Slam
Photos courtesy Lawrence Lustig / PDC