Smith On Course for Back-to-Back Titles in World Series:
Michael Smith reeled off four straight legs to fend off Fallon Sherrock in the Quarter Finals of the Nordic Darts Masters on Saturday afternoon. The match included nine maximums with the Queen of the Palace hitting five of them to delight the Danish crowd and raced into an early 3-0 lead hitting bullseye to finish 95 and break the Englishman, after he missed two darts at double.
Last weeks US Darts Masters champion responded well before the interval hitting double four twice to go within one of his opponent, with Sherrock missing a dart at tops for a 4-1 lead and another break in the fifth leg. Bully Boy found his highest finish of the match straight after the break, hitting bullseye to finish 121 and level the match at 3-3 cancelling out the two breaks of throw from last years runner up.
Six consecutive holds of throw followed with the 27-year-old from Buckinghamshire throwing the highest checkout of the match in the tenth leg, finding double eleven to finish 124 as she levelled the match at 5-5. The Queen of the Palace and a former World Finalist back at Lakeside in 2015, lost her ability on the outer ring missing four darts at double allowing the St Helens ace to hit double five with his second dart and lead 8-6 finding the elusive break of throw.
The World Number 4 found his fourth consecutive leg to close out a 10-6 victory to reach the Semi Finals, hitting double two with his last dart to seal victory despite missing six darts at the outer ring prior to that. Sherrock will be disappointed in the manner of the defeat as she missed four darts at double to save the match, as she falls to defeat again on the World Series.
Michael van Gerwen’s defence of his only PDC TV title came to an end, as he was beat 10-4 by James Wade with the two set to meet in the Premier League Semi Finals on Monday night.
Mighty Mike struggled early on with his doubles as he missed five at the outer segment in the fourth leg allowing Wade to hit two double eighteens, finishing 81 to take a 3-1 lead having broke the defending champion in the opening leg.
The Winmau man found the highest average of the two players, hitting two of the three maximums the Quarter Final had to offer as well as the highest checkout of the match in the eleventh leg. The Dutchman finished double eighteen to complete a 110 checkout to reduce the deficit to 8-3 but couldn’t come back, as the Aldershot thrower found double twelve with his second dart to close out victory.
Gary Anderson will be Wade’s opponent in the Semis after finding the highest average of the day, beating World Number 1 Peter Wright 10-4 in the last match hitting 103.50 with nine maximums on stage. The Copenhagen crowd were treated to a total of fifteen 180s with Wright averaging just shy of a ton himself.
The Flying Scotsman broke early in the match, finding double five with his second dart in the third leg to take a 2-1 lead before holding in the next leg with double two on his last dart for a 3-1 advantage.
Anderson found checkouts of 68 and 86 after the break to open a 5-2 lead, hitting double sixteen to finish the 86 and an 11-dart break of throw in the seventh leg.
Back-to-back maximums and an 83 checkout on double sixteen gave Anderson an 8-3 lead, by far his best leg of the match to break the reigning world champion.
Snakebite found his fourth and final leg, breaking straight back on 25 hitting double eight with his second dart.
The 51-year-old hit double sixteen for his second 86 finish of the match, this time finding the double with his last dart to seal the fourteenth leg of the contest.
Dimitri van den Bergh is the fourth player through to the Semi Finals, after beating Gerwyn Price 10-5 in the opening Quarter Final of the day averaging 99.38 on the oche. The Dream Maker closed out victory with an 11 darter on double eighteen, completing an 87 checkout with his second dart to go through and face Smith in the Semis.
The action continues tonight on PDC TV with the Belgian up against tournament number 1 Michael Smith for a spot in the Final in Copenhagen.
Nordic Darts Masters 2022:
Quarter Final Results
Dimitri van den Bergh 10-5 Gerwyn Price (4)
Michael Smith (1) 10-6 Fallon Sherrock
James Wade 10-4 Michael van Gerwen (2)
Gary Anderson 10-4 Peter Wright (3)
Nordic Darts Masters 2022: Semi Final Order of Play
Michael Smith (1) v Dimitri van den Bergh
James Wade v Gary Anderson
—-ENDS—-
Images: Mikal Schlosser/PDC
