Las Vegas plays host to the WDF World Masters this week, and four days into the week-long festival at the Rio Hotel & Casino, the knockout rounds have already reshaped both major draws.
Saturday’s semi-finals are set to crown first-time champions in at least one category and there’s still plenty to play for before the week is done, too. The Silver-ranked World Open takes over the Rio’s Masquerade stage on Friday, before the Masters itself reaches its conclusion on Saturday, with $12,000 waiting for the Open champion and a Lakeside World Championship spot on the line for the women’s winner.
The open draw has already delivered its fair share of shocks, with a host of fancied names departing before the business end of the tournament. Former Lakeside finalists Jeff Smith and Neil Duff, former world champion Scott Mitchell and group-stage standout Kevin Luke are among those to have seen their title hopes ended in Las Vegas, leaving four players just two victories away from a maiden World Masters crown.
Belgium’s Brian Raman heads into Saturday’s semi-finals after edging top seed Paul Krohne in a deciding-leg thriller, having earlier accounted for Jeff Smith. He now faces Welshman Sean Fisher, who has impressed throughout the knockout stages, following up a final leg victory over Matt Clark with a commanding 5-1 success against Matthew Edgar to book his place in the last four (101.80).
The other semi-final sees home favourite Chris Lim take on Dutchman Stefan Schröder. Lim has arguably been the standout performer remaining in the field, producing the highest knockout-stage average of the tournament while dropping just two legs across victories over Haupai Puha and David Fatum.
Schröder, meanwhile, has quietly pieced together an impressive campaign of his own, defeating Shane Sakchekapo, Reece Pauling and Mursel Yavuz to reach the final-four.
Images: WDF
