James Wade is through to the quarter-finals of the Ladbrokes World Championship!
But fellow Team Unicorn stars Paul Nicholson and Kevin Painter are left to lick their wounds after crashing out of the tournament.
Wade certainly put down a marker as he whitewashed Steve Farmer to set up a quarter-final clash against John Part.
“I know I will have to play better but that was a job well done,” he said. “I wasn’t as clinical on my doubles as I normally am.”
He added: “I want to be World Champion and this is another step closer to that goal.”
He raced through the first couple of sets, losing only one leg….and then had to work a little harder for his victory.
The Unicorn man was 2 legs down in sets three and four, but on both occasions came through to win and he clinched the match with a stylish 116 check-out.
Onward and upward for Wade but unfortunately, not for Painter and Nicholson.
There was massive disappointment for Painter, who threw away a glorious chance in losing to three-times World Champion Part 4-2.
How this will affect Painter’s Premier League chances, only time will tell, but he knows that he has missed a big opportunity….and he was livid with the way he played.
“I didn’t turn up,” was his honest assessment. “I made him look good, so that shows you how poor I was. I kept wiring the doubles and kept giving him legs. It is a big kick in the teeth, because the tournament is wide open.”
The Unicorn ace will reflect on what should have been, that’s for sure…..especially in a pivotal 5th set….he was on 68 to go 3 sets to 2 in front, hit treble 1 with his first dart and decided to go for 25 but hit the bull and never got a shot at a double…..perhaps single 15 to leave a dart at the bull would have been the better option…..hindsight, they say, is a great thing.
But that was the big turning point and Part sealed victory in a deciding leg in set six…..five of the six sets went to deciding legs – all to Painter’s frustration.
He made the perfect start….180 with his first visit to the oche and Painter took the opening set with a 106 average.
Part though, took the next two sets, despite six perfect darts from Painter in the 2nd set! The Canadian also hit a brilliant 161 at the start of set three.
Painter levelled the match at two sets apiece, despite a 127 finish from Part….it was developing into a nail-biter!
But ‘The Artist’ paid a heavy price for that error in the fifth set and his World Championship was over….you could certainly understand his frustration.
And Paul Nicholson was fuming after his World Championship exit….
He ran up against an inspired Kim Huybrechts as the Belgian qualifier reached the quarter-finals on his World Championship debut.
Nicholson can only hope this defeat hasn’t damaged his Premier League hopes.
He looked very comfortable in taking the opening set, which included a 112 finish.
But it all started to go wrong for the Unicorn star in set two…..at one leg apiece, he missed nine darts to break the Huybrechts throw….he would then have been throwing for a two set lead.
And those misses proved to be very costly, because Nicholson lost focus….Huybrechts found another gear and in no time at all, Belgium’s No.1 had won nine legs out of 10 to open a 3 sets to 1 advantage….the only bright spark for ‘The Asset’ was a brilliant 170 check-out.
But it wasn’t enough to help Nicholson back into the game and as he missed more doubles in the fifth set, Huybrechts stepped in to claim the biggest win of his career.
Nicholson was distraught after the defeat and he was angry at the reaction of a section of the crowd, but he will also know that he had a terrific opportunity and didn’t take it.
Thursday 3rd Round results:
John Part 4-2 Kevin Painter
James Wade 4-0 Steve Farmer
Kim Huybrechts 4-1 Paul Nicholson
By STUART PYKE in London
Photos courtesy Lawrence Lustig / PDC