The dream is over for Phil Taylor!
And the Unicorn star had no complaints after he failed to reach the quarter-finals of the PDC World Championship for the first time ever.
‘The Power’ was cut at the Alexandra Palace by a brilliant Dave Chisnall, who convincingly beat Taylor by 4 sets to 1 in a stunning result which has sent reverberations around the sporting world.
And Team Unicorn’s Gary Anderson is the new 3/1 favourite with Ladbrokes after the shock exit of Taylor on Tuesday night.
“Dave was the better player,” admitted Taylor.
“When he took the fourth set, it was a big blow for me. It was all on the night and in the end, I wasn’t good enough.”
Taylor went on: “I don’t know why, but it just didn’t click for me. Obviously I am disappointed because I wanted the World Championship back, but I wasn’t as good as Dave….fair play to him.”
Chisnall became only the 7th man in history to beat Taylor at the World Championship….the others being Kevin Spiolek, Dennis Priestley, Raymond van Barneveld, John Part, Wayne Mardle and Mark Webster.
It really was dramatic stuff and there was certainly a feeling at the venue that Chisnall could give Taylor a game, but nobody could have predicted a 4-1 scoreline.
‘The Power’ missed one dart at ‘tops’ to win the opening set against the throw and that was to prove a massive moment in the match, because although Taylor won the second set, it gave Chisnall the belief that he needed.
The St Helens man averaged 108 in taking the third set, which included three 180s and a 119 finish!
But as Taylor mentioned, set four was crucial….it went to a deciding leg and Chisnall broke Taylor’s throw and broke his heart as well, because he hit a brilliant 180 to leave ‘tops’ and hit it first time to move 3 sets to 1 clear.
And there was no stopping Chisnall after that….an 8th 180 followed and after two more Taylor missed doubles, D6 sealed an historic win and sent ‘The Power’ packing!
Taylor though will soldier on, as he strives for perfection.
“I have a lot of work to do and I will do it!” he said. “I will certainly give it another two or three years and see how it goes. The critics will write me off again but I always come back and prove them wrong!” he warned.
And of course’s Taylor’s stunning defeat opens the World Championship up for the rest of the field!
And Team Unicorn’s Paul Nicholson for one, will feel he has a great chance.
Nicholson was brilliant in whitewashing Alan Tabern 4-0, dropping only three legs in the entire match….it was a top professional performance.
There were two 12 darters, three 13 darters, five 180s and some impressive finishing as well.
And a 98 average was far too good for Tabern….Nicholson was using new flights specially developed by Unicorn and they certainly did the trick!
Nicholson will now face Belgium’s Kim Huybrechts in the last 16 after he ended the challenge of James Richardson by four sets to one.
“I was focused and in the zone,” said Nicholson. “I am getting into this tournament now, so let’s see what happens.”
The manner of the victory was impressive and there is no doubt that Paul Nicholson is in a bunch of players that could win the World Championship.
On Tuesday afternoon, there were terrific victories for the Unicorn duo of Andy Hamilton and Terry Jenkins.
Hamilton won a thriller 4-3 against Vincent van der Voort to set up that last 16 showdown with Chisnall, while Jenkins was a comfortable 4-1 winner over Co Stompe, and he will now take on Justin Pipe in the 3rd Round.
John Part meanwhile, will face Unicorn star Kevin Painter after the Canadian outclassed Richie Burnett 4-1.
But the exit of Phil Taylor is without doubt one of THE biggest stories in the history of the PDC World Championship.
And we will have more thoughts on Taylor’s defeat coming soon on the Unicorn website.
Tuesday 2nd Round results:
James Richardson 1-4 Kim Huybrechts
Phil Taylor 1-4 Dave Chisnall
Paul Nicholson 4-0 Alan Tabern
Terry Jenkins 4-1 Co Stompe
Richie Burnett 1-4 John Part
Vincent van der Voort 3-4 Andy Hamilton
By STUART PYKE at the Ladbrokes World Championship
Photos courtesy Lawrence Lustig / PDC