Joe Cullen brought doen the curtain on Chris Dobey’s Hollywood tournament and completed the BoyleSports World Grand Prix semi-finals line-up in Leicester on Friday.
In the evening’s finale, The Rockstar conjured up a majestic 121 checkout to overcome Chris Dobey in a gruelling five-set affair, recovering from 2-1 down to reach a sixth televised semi-final.
Cullen flew out of the blocks, winning the opening four legs to seize the initiative, only for Dobey to respond with three straight legs of his own – culminating in a 12-darter – to level the tie.
Dobey, who dumped out reigning champion Michael van Gerwen in the last 16, continued his defiance to win a scrappy third set, but Cullen hit back in some style to wrap up the fourth.
The former Premier League runner-up fired in legs of 13 and 10 darts to force a fifth set, where he punished Dobey’s doubling woes to triumph in a battle of the Masters champions.
“If I’m completely honest, if that 121 finish didn’t go in, I would have probably lost the game,” conceded Cullen, who has now broken into the world’s top ten for the first time.
“I felt so focused, and I want to give myself the best possible chance. I think this [fightback] will stand me in good stead, and I will take that confidence into tomorrow.
“Luke is a great lad. He dug in tonight and showed his fighting qualities, so I will have to perform tomorrow, but this double-start [format] is a massive leveller.”
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Price and Smith’s titanic tussle will kick off Saturday’s semi-final action, before Humphries and Cullen collide for a place in Sunday’s showpiece at the Morningside Arena.
The BoyleSports World Grand Prix will be broadcast live on Sky Sports in the UK, through the PDC’s worldwide broadcast partners including DAZN and Viaplay, and on PDCTV (excluding UK, Germany, Austria & Switzerland based subscribers).
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2023 BoyleSports World Grand Prix
Friday October 6
Quarter-Finals
Gerwyn Price 3-0 Martin Schindler (3-0, 3-0, 3-1)
Michael Smith 3-0 Andrew Gilding (3-1, 3-0, 3-2)
Luke Humphries 3-2 Peter Wright (1-3, 2-3, 3-1, 3-2, 3-2)
Joe Cullen 3-2 Chris Dobey (3-0, 1-3, 1-3, 3-1, 3-1)
Saturday October 7 (2000 BST)
Semi-Finals
Michael Smith v Gerwyn Price
Joe Cullen v Luke Humphries
Best of 7 Sets
—–ENDS—–
Images: Simon O’Connor / PDC
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