Max Baulcomb reports the latest action from the World Grand Prix of Darts as a spectacular and unusual feat thrills the crowd – twice.
James Wade and Robert Thornton both hit nine-darters during their classic last 16 encounter on a memorable night at the World Grand Prix.
In arguably the best match in Grand Prix history, Wade eventually emerged victorious in a match that had everything. He finished twice on the bull in the opening set to take the lead 1-0, and hit only the second nine-darter in Grand Prix history at the start of the second set.
He followed that up with a brilliant 156 checkout to lead two legs to nil – but it looked like it was going downhill for him after that as Thornton battled back to win the second set and he also claimed the third to lead 2-1 in the match. In the fourth set it was Thornton’s turn to hit the magical nine-darter but, just like Wade, he ended up losing the set after missing four darts to win the match as Wade clinched it by hitting double top to win 3-2.
Wade will now take on Phil Taylor in a mouth-watering quarter-final as he survived an early scare to cruise to a 3-1 win over Andrew Gilding. who had burst out of the traps in the first set ,winning all three legs and averaging 112 to lead 1-0.
Gilding looked set to take the second set as well but Taylor rallied back to win in a deciding leg and level things up at 1-1. The Power took control of the match when he broke Gilding’s throw on the way to winning the third set. Taylor then reeled off three consecutive legs in the fourth to wrap up the win. It was a solid performance from Taylor who consistently averaged in the mid 90s.
Kevin Painter provided the shock of the night as he came back from 2-0 down to knock out third seed Adrian Lewis. In a high quality match, Lewis raced into a 2-0 lead hitting a magnificent 142 checkout to steal the second set, but that only seemed to spur Painter on as he brought it back to 2-2 after squeezing a dart right in the corner of double 18.
Lewis couldn’t believe the dart had gone in and it seemed to affect him mentally for the rest of the match. Painter completed the comeback with a 55 checkout to win the fifth set and the Essex man will now clash with Gary Anderson in the quarter-finals.
Like Taylor, Gary Anderson had to come back from 1-0 down to see off Northern Irishman Micky Mansell 3-1. Anderson made a slow start and Mansell took full advantage winning the first set with some clinical finishing on double top. Anderson seemed to be struggling with the slow pace of Mansell but he soon grabbed a crucial break of throw to win the second set. From there on it was all too comfortable for Anderson as the flying Scotsman eased to victory winning six straight legs to take the third and fourth set.