Adrian Lewis carried on where he left off in the Premier League with a terrific victory in the third of the UK Open qualifiers in Wigan.
After demolishing Simon Whitlock at the MEN Arena in Manchester, Team Unicorn’s World Champion beat Scotland’s Robert Thornton 6-4 in Saturday’s final at Robin Park.
And it was a terrific performance from Lewis, who came from 0-3 down in the final to take the win and the £6,000 cheque.
He looked all over the place at the start of the final – missing 10 darts at doubles in the opening two legs!
Lewis hit his first maximum to get on the board and back-to-back 12 darters drew him level. He was warming to the task now!
Although Thornton went ahead again at 4-3, he had no answer when Lewis found his range….a 13 darter drew him level again, before ne nailed a brilliant 124 on the bull to break the Scot’s throw and then he won it after a fantastic 10th leg.
Lewis hit a 180, only to see Thornton bang in two maximum’s of his own! The Scottish star had left 41 after just nine darts but didn’t get a shot at a double.
The Unicorn ace won it in 11 darts, hitting D14 for a terrific 88 finish and the tournament win, with an average of 105.
Earlier, he had beaten youngster Adam Hunt 6-4, won a last leg decider against Louis Blundell, before a 6-1 win against Unicorn stablemate Paul Nicholson…..Lewis followed up with three consecutive 6-4 victories against Scott Rand, Steve Brown and Andy Jenkins to reach the final.
It was typical Lewis! Typically brilliant!
Elsewhere, Andy Hamilton showed some encouraging signs of a welcome return to form. The Unicorn man enjoyed a decent run to the quarter-finals in Wigan, where he was edged out 6-4 by Andy Jenkins, who was enjoying his best day of darts for some time.
Hamilton was the fourth Team Unicorn player to lose narrowly to Jenkins on the day!
Jamie Caven was the third to lose to Jenkins….he had already shocked Barney in round two and then beaten Kevin Painter 6-4 in the 3rd Round. Well, the man known as ‘Rocky’ laid the knock-out blow on Caven, winning 6-4 in the last 16.
Terry Jenkins and Paul Nicholson were both beaten in the last 32 at Robin Park in Wigan….Nicholson looked in good touch but ran into Lewis at his best, while ‘The Bull’ lost out 6-4 to Welshman Mark Webster.
Well, Raymond van Barneveld missed the UK Open Finals in Bolton last year because he didn’t play in any of the qualifiers….well, he wants to play at the Reebok in June, but still has some work to do!
Barney disappointingly lost 6-4 to ‘Rocky’ Jenkins in the 2nd Round, as he found it difficult to adjust to the ‘floor’ tournament format….the Unicorn star missed double after double. Even after finding himself 1-3 down, he missed five darts to level at three legs each and then missed another dart to force a deciding leg, when he would have been throwing first.
A great chance missed for Barney, who’ll have another crack at it on Sunday.
There was a long list of Team Unicorn 2nd Round losers…..Joe Cullen was beaten 6-3 by Stephen Hardy, Michael Rosenauer lost 6-3 against Shane O’Connor, Barrie Bates lost by the same score to fellow Welshman Richie Burnett, while John Part also lost 6-3 against Mark Walsh.
Arron Monk missed chances in losing yet another last leg decider, as he was beaten by Sweden’s Magnus Caris and there was a terrific all Unicorn clash between Wes Newton and Jamie Caven.
Caven led 3-0, but Newton fought back to level….the next four legs were shared to set up another decider, which Caven won, as he took out 74 for the victory.
In the 1st Round, Colin Osborne missed six darts at doubles, as he went down in an 11th leg to Monk, while Peter Manley was beaten 6-1 by Shane O’Connor and Kirk Shepherd lost by the same score to Mick Todd.
Results – Quarter-Finals:
Andy Jenkins 6-4 Andy Hamilton
Adrian Lewis 6-4 Steve Brown
Gary Anderson 6-3 Peter Wright
Robert Thornton 6-5 Richie Burnett
Losers - £1,000
Semi-Finals:
Adrian Lewis 6-4 Andy Jenkins
Robert Thornton 6-2 Gary Anderson
Losers - £2,000
Final:
Adrian Lewis 6-4 Robert Thornton
Winner - £6,000
Runner-up - £3,000
By STUART PYKE in Wigan
Photo courtesy Lawrence Lustig / PDC