Day five was quarter finals day in Dublin yesterday where eight was to become four. The first quarter final was between Adrian 'Jackpot' Lewis and Wayne 'Woody' Jones; the quarter finals was now first to four sets and Lewis stormed to a 2-0 lead. Jones replied in the third set winning it 3-0 but Lewis recovered and won the following two sets to win 4-1.
4-1 was the common result as Van Barneveld also progressed into the semi-finals with that scoreline; he was up against the pride of Wales, Barrie Bates. The Dutchman looked in full control and took the first three sets without breaking sweat. Bates took a consolation in the fourth to avoid being whitewashed but Barney won the following leg to make it to the semi-finals, just one win away from his third successive World Grand Prix Final.
James Wade will be the one to play Barney in the semi-finals after beating Scot Andy Hamilton by that familiar 4-1 scoreline. Wade started poorly and lost the first set but he regained his darting prowess to blitz through the following four sets to progress into the semi-finals.
The last quarter final was probably the best match of the tournament so far, Phil Taylor was in his biggest battle for a long long time against Gary Anderson. For once, Taylor had to suffer booing from the Irish crowd as they were hoping for an Anderson win, which nearly came. Taylor won the first set and looked to carry out another whitewash, however Anderson fought back and broke throw in the second set via a double two to take the second set. Taylor should have gone 2-1 ahead but surprisingly missed darts to finish and Anderson took full advantage to take the 2-1 lead. Anderson then went 2-0 ahead in the fourth set and should have gone 3-1 ahead but nerves got the better of him and Taylor fought back to level the score at 2-2. Again Anderson went 2-0 ahead in the fifth set but Taylor again pegged him back to 2-2 which included the 'Power' being one dart away from the first ever televised nine darter from a 501 double start. But Anderson held his throw and went 3-2 ahead, but it was soon 3-3 as Taylor found a 3-0 sixth set win. Anderson looked tired and without a break in between the sixth and seventh sets he looked to be running on empty; Anderson failed start on his throw and Taylor punished him to win 4-3 and progress into the semi-finals where he'll meet his protege Lewis.
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