The Team Unicorn trio of Raymond van Barneveld, Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis are all through to the quarter-finals of the RTL7 International Masters in Holland.
Taylor, Lewis and Terry Jenkins fought out Group B and we witnessed three top matches of the highest quality…..but it was Lewis and Taylor who reached Sunday’s Quarter-Finals.
The pair will have to wait to find out their opponents until Group D is played – also on Sunday – with James Wade, Gary Anderson and Simon Whitlock playing for the remaining two places in those quarter-finals.
Barney knows that he will take on Roland Scholten in the knock-out stages, after he topped Group C with fine wins over Vincent van der Voort and Michael van Gerwen.
But Taylor was again in irresistible form and will certainly be the man they all have to beat in the RTL7 International Masters and the winner’s cheque of 20,000 euro on Monday night.
He beat both Lewis and Jenkins by 8 legs to 4…..but the 2011 World Champion was a convincing 8-3 winner over ‘The Bull’ to claim his place in the quarter-finals.
The Lewis/Taylor match was simply sensational and was a lot closer then the score suggests…..both hit six 180s, with Taylor averaging 113.92, while Lewis averaged 108.78!
‘Jackpot’ set the tone with an 11 darter in the opening leg, only for Taylor to win four on the spin….finishes of 100 and 124 got Lewis back into the match at only 5-4 down but he missed crucial doubles.
Taylor took out 106, then broke the throw and hit a 13 darter to claim the win.
‘The Power’ averaged 106.69 against Jenkins, who himself was around the 99 mark! Taylor raced into a 5-1 lead and was never going to lose from there.
So, it came down to a showdown between Jenkins and Lewis…..the winner taking it all and from two legs apiece, Lewis seized control, taking six out of the next seven legs, to cruise to that 8-3 victory.
Barneveld carried on where he left off from his brilliant performance in the Premier League in Glasgow.
He beat Van der Voort 8-6 and followed that up with an 8-5 victory over Van Gerwen.
It was a close run thing against the in-form Van der Voort, but from five legs each Barneveld stamped his authority…..a 96 check-out and a 12 darter and he missed a chance to win 8-5, blowing three darts at D16, but made up for it in the next with a fifth 180 to clinch victory on ‘tops’.
Barneveld averaged 103.31 in his win over Van Gerwen….he led 5-2 before his opponent got back to only one leg behind….and in the end Barney needed a 118 check-out and a 13 darter to finally see off a brave Van Gerwen challenge.
In the final match of the night, Van der Voort beat Van Gerwen 8-4 to set up a quarter-final against Co Stompe.
And there will be more news from Holland on Sunday right here on the Unicorn website.
By STUART PYKE
Photos courtesy Chris Sargeant