Wales’ top two Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton will meet in a mouth-watering quarter-final after seeing off Ryan Searle and Dimitri Van den Bergh respectively.
Price landed a 164 checkout in his 10-8 win in a match the world number one led throughout despite pressure from debutant Searle.
“I was thinking too much in that game instead of just playing,” Price admitted. “I felt under enormous pressure today.
“I’ve had a full month off and hardly practiced and I think that showed tonight, I was a bit rusty.
Clayton’s passage through was less straightforward as he came through a 19-leg thriller to keep alive his hopes of retaining the title.
With Clayton leading 9-6, Van den Bergh showed resilience to force a decider, only for the Welshman to land a timely 180 before wrapping up the win with an 88 checkout in the following visit.
“Dimitri didn’t go away, he’s a class player and I’m so glad to get over that mark,” said Clayton.
“I just could not pull away from him; it was good timing with the 180 in the last leg.
“I’m happy with how I played considering we’re just coming back from a break.”
Sunday’s action on the decisive final day will begin at 1245 GMT with the quarter-finals, before the semi-finals and final take place from 1900 GMT.
The Ladbrokes Masters is being broadcast live on ITV4 in the UK, through the PDC’s worldwide broadcast partners including DAZN and Viaplay, and on PDCTV (excluding UK and Netherlands based subscribers).
2022 Ladbrokes Masters
Saturday January 29
Second Round
Afternoon Session
Jose de Sousa 10-7 Rob Cross
Joe Cullen 10-1 Gary Anderson
Michael Smith 10-6 Krzysztof Ratajski
Dave Chisnall 10-4 James Wade
Evening Session Jonny Clayton 10-9 Dimitri Van den Bergh
Gerwyn Price 10-8 Ryan Searle
Simon Whitlock 10-8 Peter Wright
Michael van Gerwen 10-9 Luke Humphries
Sunday January 30
Afternoon Session (1245 GMT)
Quarter-Finals
Dave Chisnall v Michael Smith
Gerwyn Price v Jonny ClaytonSimon Whitlock v Jose de Sousa
Michael van Gerwen v Joe Cullen
Evening Session (1900 GMT)
Semi-Finals
Price/Clayton v Chisnall/SmithWhitlock/De Sousa v Van Gerwen/CullenFinalPrice/Clayton/Chisnall/Smith v Whitlock/De Sousa/Van Gerwen/Cullen
Format
- Quarter-Finals – Best of 19 legs
- Semi-Finals – Best of 21 legs
- Final – Best of 21 legs
Prize Fund
- Winner £60,000
- Runner-Up £25,000
- Semi-Finalists £17,500
- Quarter-Finalists £10,000
- Last 16 £5,000
- Last 24 £2,500
- Total £220,000
—–ENDS—–
Lead Image: PDC
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