Gerwyn Price reached his second consecutive Quarter Final at the Betfred World Matchplay after beating Dave Chisnall 11-8 including checkouts of 161 and 164 on the bull. Danny Noppert reached the Last 8 for the first time in his darting career, winning the opening match of the night 11-4 against Daryl Gurney averaging 102.36.
Michael Smith’s hopes of winning the Phil Taylor Trophy were ended by Dirk van Duijvenbode, who won 11-7 to set up a clash with his World Cup teammate on Friday in Blackpool. Jose de Sousa and Rob Cross both averaged over 103 in the second tungsten tussle of the match, but it was the Special One who advanced with just nine treble less visits in an 11-8 victory over the 2019 Champion.
The World Number 2 was broken in the fifth leg by his English opponent, who hit tops to lead 3-2 at the first break dealing once more with a hostile crowd in the Winter Gardens. The Welshman still managed a 161 checkout in the first leg to silence any haters, hitting the bull for a 1-0 lead.
Full credit must be given to the man born in St Helens, as he continued causing problems for the former World Champion by holding throw and leading 6-4 at the break including an 87 finish on double twelve with his last dart for the eighth leg of the match. Chisnall included five maximums and averaged 93.91 over the course of nineteen legs again showing those at home the extreme ability he possesses.
The Iceman then let his quality once more show just like he did in his First-Round match with Martin Schindler, finding the bull again to checkout 124 breaking the throw and crucially levelling at 6-6. The Red Dragon star reeled three legs in a row including his second break of throw in the fourteenth leg, hitting the boards smallest target, and finishing 164 to take an 8-6 lead, his highest checkout of the match.
The World Number 15 was not finished despite his opponent’s resurgence and found his highest finish of 142 on double tops for a break straight back in the match. It was to be the man from Markham though who would be victorious in Blackpool, finding double two with his last dart in hand to seal a place in his second consecutive Matchplay Quarter Final on Friday night.
Danny Noppert blew Daryl Gurney away in the opening period of the first match of the night, breaking in the fourth leg and entering the first interval 4-1 ahead. The Freeze missed just seven darts at double all game, like Dimitri van den Bergh yesterday again showing just how far he has come in the sport this year.
The reigning UK Open champion then pinned tops for his second break of throw to finish 114 and lead 5-1 in all Winmau matchup, before hitting back-to-back maximums including a fantastic blind 180 to leave 86, after Superchin did the same to Gary Anderson on Sunday. He returned to the oche and hit the bull to finish the 86 and lead his Northern Irish opponent 7-3 at the second break.
The 33-year-old from Joure made sure it was a double scalp of the Northern Ireland World Cup pair, finishing 132 by hitting the bull again for a 9-3 lead and a break of throw, his highest checkout of the match. The world number 24 despite only winning four legs averaged 94.69 and included two maximums to treat the crowd but can sit back knowing the better player won on the night.
Noppert closed out the match on double ten with his last dart in hand to win 11-4 setting up a Quarter Final match with Dirk van Duijvenbode on Friday.
The Titan raced into a 4-0 lead against tournament number 3 Michael Smith in the final tie of the night, including the tournament’s first big fish after breaking his opponent twice in legs one and three. The Dutchman continued pushing his opponent through the second mini session and went in 6-4 up, finding double five with his very last dart in hand to finish 85.
The 2019 Runner Up was agonisingly close to hitting the first nine darter at the Winter Gardens since Gary Anderson’s against Joe Cullen in the 2018 Quarter Finals, missing double twelve before returning to hit double six for a ten dart hold of throw, trailing 9-6 to his opponent.
The best shot of the match must be awarded to the Auber Genius, checking out 86 on double sixteen in two darts to break throw in the seventeenth leg after seeing Smith break him in the leg before, as he entered a 10-7 lead at the Winter Gardens.
Van Duijvenbode reached his very first Quarter Final after hitting double ten with his last dart, recording an 11-7 win and an average of 98 to deny Smith again in a major PDC tournament.
The match of the night though came between Jose de Sousa and Rob Cross as both players averaged 103 over the course of 19 legs. Voltage despite defeat can be extremely proud of his efforts and against another opponent, he would have made the Quarter Finals with his performance on the oche.
Unfortunately, he ran into a rampant Portuguese who included two legs where he hit six perfect darts, to tease the crowd once more of the prospect of a nine darter. Between the pair there were 15 maximums and nine of them were hit by the Special One, with the 2018 World Champion recording a double percentage off 50%.
The World Number 7 pinned double four with his last dart showing all the emotions after getting over the line, reaching his first Matchplay Quarter Final where he will face Gerwyn Price.
The brilliant Blackpool crowd certainly got their money’s worth after being entertained to four quality matches over the course of the night.
The darting action doesn’t stop there, with the first two QF’s starting tomorrow including a repeat of last years Final between Peter Wright and Dimitri van den Bergh, before Michael van Gerwen one of three Dutchman in the Last 8 faces Nathan Aspinall, the only non-seeded player now left in the tournament.
Coverage gets underway live on Sky Sports from 7pm in what promises to be a very entertaining night of arrows in the iconic Winter Gardens.
Betfred World Matchplay 2022 Results
Last 16:
Danny Noppert (11) 11-4 Daryl Gurney
Jose de Sousa (7) 11-8 Rob Cross (10)
Gerwyn Price (2) 11-8 Dave Chisnall (15)
Dirk van Duijvenbode (14) 11-7 Michael Smith (3)
Thursday Order of Play: Quarter Finals
Peter Wright (1) v Dimitri van den Bergh (9)
Michael van Gerwen (4) v Nathan Aspinall
—–ENDS—–
Images: Taylor Lanning / PDC
