Gerwyn Price weathered a stubborn Ross Smith fightback to reach the World Matchplay semi-finals with a 16-12 win at the Winter Gardens on Friday night, booking his place in the final four for just the second time in his career.
The pair had met once already this season, with Price coming out on top in the final of Euro Tour 5 in Sindelfingen, a result that offered an early hint of how Friday’s rematch might unfold.
Price took the first mini-session 3-2 courtesy of a brilliant 80 checkout to break Smith’s throw, navigating a forest of tungsten to find tops from the left side of the oche.
The second session followed a similar pattern, with Price progressing his lead to a 6-4. At this stage, Price was getting significantly more looks at the doubles than Smith. The scoring power was standing out, something that had been touted as a potential difference maker before a dart was thrown.
The turning point arrived at the end of the third mini-session. Given an invitation at a double break, Price took it without hesitation to move 9-6 clear. Smith was left to rue his missed chances again two legs later. Well ahead in the seventeenth leg, only for a series of missed doubles to let Price back in and undo all the hard work that had gone into the break beforehand.
Price then produced the leg of the match, a ten darter (140, 180, 141, 40 fd) to move into a 12-8 lead.But Smith was not finished, four legs without reply brought him remarkably level again just when the match had looked to be ambling to its conclusion.
Once more, though, his hard work went to waste, as Price regained the two-leg advantage he had held for so long. But the final blow came in leg twenty-seven, with Price sealing a final break with a sensational double-double finish on 91, and seeing it out 16-12.‘Gezzy’ finished with a 102.78 average, and with it, ten maximums across the contest.
Speaking afterwards, he credited Smith for pushing him:
“It was nice to play well when someone else is playing well against you… thankfully I reeled off those four legs on the bounce.“
“That 91, double-double, that got the blood boiling.”
Looking ahead, Price sounded a note of confidence about the rest of his tournament:
“I’m going to get better and better as this tournament goes on.”
He now awaits the winner of Friday’s second quarter-final between James Wade and Gian van Veen, offering a scouting note on both potential opponents:
“They’re both quite slow, methodical. Whoever comes through, it’s going to be a good game.”
Images: PDC / Taylor Lanning
