The second of tonight's semi-finals was confirmed yesterday in the other two thrilling quarter finals. European Champion, Adrian Lewis, had to fight tooth and nail to continue his fantastic recent form and progress through. It'll be a repeat of the European Championships semi-final as Michael Van Gerwen will be looking to exact some revenge after also making it through.
Lewis needed extra time to see off the formidable Andy Hamilton in a tough battle of the Stokies. The first four legs all went with throw due to Lewis missing six darts to move 3-1 in front. It looked costly as Hamilton broke in the fifth leg to leave the stage 3-2 in front. But Hamilton then missed three darts to hold in the sixth leg and then needed a colossal 170-checkout to level at 4-4. The Hammer then secured a fantastic 127-checkout to move in front once more, only for Lewis to level the match before the second break with a ton checkout, courtesy of two double 20's. After losing the first leg of the third session, Lewis would again move in front at 7-6, only for Hamilton to turn it around once more by winning the remaining two legs of the session.
Hamilton would then make it four consecutive legs to move 10-7 in front which would become 11-9 at the fourth break. Lewis continued to worm his way back as the score went from 12-9 to 13-10 before Jackpot took the remaining two legs of the fifth session to move to within a leg of Hamilton. Hamilton then crucially missed two darts to win leg-26 and Lewis was now level. Hamilton responded with a 101-checkout and did sit 15-14 in front, only for Lewis to force a tie break. Lewis needed to find an unbelievable 161-checkout to level the match at 16-16 before finding a break, after Hamilton missed a dart at double, to move 18-17 in front. Lewis was now throwing for the match and managed to clear up-86 to emerge victorious.
Van Gerwen wasn't ever really in trouble against Dave Chisnall, but the world number nine did give him a match. Chisnall missed a crucial dart to break in the third leg, allowing Van Gerwen to retake the lead with a 105-checkout. The Dutchman did lead 3-2 at the first break before Chisnall managed to find a break in leg-7 and then produced a 112-checkout to move 5-3 ahead. It should have been six but he missed three darts and Van Gerwen swooped in with a 110-checkout. Van Gerwen then managed to the match at 5-5 after Chisnall missed a further dart to win the leg. The first three legs of the third session all went with throw before Van Gerwen broke in leg-14 only for Chisnall to break back and make it 8-7 to the Dutchman at the third break.
Van Gerwen found an edge, and two consecutive legs, to move 10-7 ahead only for Chisnall to find a brilliant 144-checkout to make it 11-9 after four sessions. The writing would end up being on the wall though as Van Gerwen reeled off the first three legs of the fifth session before then making it 15-10, leaving him one leg away as they left the stage for the final time. Chisnall did manage to hold the victory off for one more leg but Van Gerwen managed to check-out 20 to win 16-11.
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