Gary Anderson booked his place in the World Matchplay quarter-finals for the first time in six years on Tuesday night, overturning an early deficit to beat fifth seed Jonny Clayton 11-7 in the first tie of the second-round at the Winter Gardens.On the face of it, the tone was set from the off.
Clayton took the first mini-session 4-1, but from there, the Scotsman found the form he had been looking for, reeling off five legs on the spin to move 6-4 ahead with a break in hand. From that point, another break and taking advantage of missed darts from Clayton set Anderson on his way.
The Scot steamrolled his way to the win after taking ten of the next thirteen legs after the opening exchanges to close out 11-7.
It is Anderson’s first appearance in the last eight since 2020, a return to Blackpool form for the two-time World Champion after a couple of years in which he has played sparingly on the tour but impressed sporadically.
He finished the match with a 98.13 average, 44% on doubles and seven maximums.Speaking afterwards, Anderson was candid about the standard of the contest rather than triumphant:
”I thought the game was a bit poor to be honest, I was expecting Jonny to do what he does – 180s, 161s. We kind of dragged it out a bit there.”
It is a low-key assessment for a player who has now knocked out the tournament’s fifth seed to reach the quarter-finals, and sets up a mouth-watering tie with one of the Dutch pair of Michael van Gerwen or Dirk van Duijvenbode.
For Clayton, meanwhile, the defeat ends the Welshman’s hopes of going one better than his 2023 runner-up finish, after starting the match with the better of it before Anderson’s first-round form followed him into Tuesday evening.
Images: PDC
