Gary Anderson won his second UK Open qualifier of 2011 and he did it by beating Phil Taylor for the second time in the final.
The Scot gained a touch of revenge for Thursday’s Premier League defeat at the hands of Taylor in Liverpool, by winning the final at Robin Park in Wigan by 6 legs to 2.
Anderson beat Taylor in the final of a UK Open qualifier Barnsley earlier this month and after racing into a 4-0 lead in Saturday’s final, there was no way back for the Unicorn star.
It looked like being another Taylor triumph, as he brushed aside the challenges of Jimmy Mann, Justin Pipe, Magnus Caris, youngster Matt Padgett, Andy Hamilton and Wayne Jones……but Anderson was inspired in the final.
A two dart 98 finish, two 13 darters and 126 on the bull gave Anderson that 4-0 advantage before Taylor hit back winning two legs of his own.
But ‘The Power’ was missing too many doubles and paid the price….D8 took Anderson one leg away from victory and after seven missed darts at doubles from Taylor, D10 clinched the win for the Scot.
On his way to the final, Anderson had won a thrilling quarter-final against Unicorn World Champion Adrian Lewis in a last leg decider, and he also beat Unicorn’s Under 21 World Champion Arron Monk in the last 16.
But Monk’s run to the 4th Round was impressive, as he enjoyed wins over Steve Hine, Tony Ayres and Dennis Smith, before losing 6-1 to the in-form Anderson.
Let’s have a look at the rest of Team Unicorn at the penultimate UK Open qualifier, before the line-up is known for the Finals at Bolton in June…..
Wes Newton got to the last 16 again but lost a high quality affair 6-3 to Mervyn King, who went onto the semi-finals.
Andy Hamilton’s quarter-final appearance will be a big confidence boost for the Team Unicorn Maestro because ‘The Hammer’ has been struggling for most of 2011…..he eventually lost 6-3 to Taylor, but hopefully things will start to look out for Hamilton.
Paul Nicholson was beaten 6-3 by Lewis in the 3rd Round, while Terry Jenkins lost 6-2 to Newton at the same stage.
In the 2nd Round, there was a surprise 6-4 defeat for James Wade against Gary Welding…..German ace Michael Rosenauer lost a last leg decider to Martyn Turner, Kevin Painter went down 6-2 to Nicholson, Colin Osborne lost by the same score to Alan Tabern and Barrie Bates lost 6-5 against Vincent van der Voort.
In the 1st Round, Joe Cullen was bitterly disappointed as he lost 6-5 to Scott Rand, Jamie Caven was way off the pace losing 6-1 to Terry Temple and Kirk Shepherd was a 6-3 loser against Magnus Caris.
Quarter-Finals:
Wayne Jones 6-3 Vincent van der Voort
Mervyn King 6-2 Gary Welding
Gary Anderson 6-5 Adrian Lewis
Phil Taylor 6-3 Andy Hamilton
Losers - £1,000
Semi-Finals:
Phil Taylor 6-3 Wayne Jones
Gary Anderson 6-3 Mervyn King
Losers - £2,000
Final:
Gary Anderson 6-2 Phil Taylor
Winner- £6,000
Runner-up - £3,000
By STUART PYKE
Photo courtesy Lawrence Lustig / PDC