Sunday in Dusseldorf saw the quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final of the European Championships all in one day. It would be the defending champion Phil Taylor who would win his second televised tournament in the space of a week with a final win over Adrian Lewis. It was Lewis who went 2-0 ahead at the start but Taylor fought back 3-3 and then game remained level up until 8-8. But there was no stopping the Power and Taylor took the next three legs to remain the European Darts champion.
Phil Taylor got to the final by beating Simon Whitlock in the semi-final. Taylor led from the start and after taking a 2-0 lead, he went 6-1 ahead. There was nothing Whitlock could do as Taylor cruised to a 11-4 victory.
Lewis faced Van Barnveld in his semi-final. The game was level at 2-2 before Lewis kicked into gear to lead 6-2. But the Dutchman was able to fight back to 8-7 to keep the game alive. Lewis then hit a nine darter to secure a 10-7 lead before Barney again fought back to 10-10. Barney then left himself on 24 to win but Lewis checked-out 121 to seal his place in the final.
Adrian Lewis took on the dark horse Kim Huybrechts in the first quarter-final of the day. On paper this looked a breeze for the World Champion but Huybrechts fought him all the way. Initially it did look like a breeze for Lewis as he stormed to a 5-0 lead. But the Belgian fought back to 7-5 then 9-8 before Lewis finally saw off the debutant.
The second quarter-final saw a rematch from the quarter-final in Blackpool between James Wade and Van Barneveld. Wade own the tie in Blackpool but the Dutchman was keen to get revenge in Dusseldorf. The game to went to 3-3 before Barney found a crucial break of throw and took a 6-3 lead. Barney then went 9-6 ahead and just needed one leg to win, but Wade wasn't finished and came back to 9-8. Wade then missed a dart at double top to level the match and Van Barneveld punished him by progressing to the quarter-finals 10-8.
The big quarter-final was between Taylor and Nicholson. There's been a little bit of verbal jousting between the pair of them and now it was time to see who was wearing the trousers. It started off with Nicholson as he stormed to a 3-0 lead. But Taylor turned it around and lead 6-4. It was then Nicholson's turn to fight back and the game became level at 7-7. Nicholson ran out of steam as Taylor powered, excuse the pun, to 10-7 to progress.
The last quarter-final saw Simon Whitlock take on Peter Wright. After initially taking the lead, Wright had to fight back to level the match at 3-3. Whitlock then went 6-3 ahead before Wright reduced the deficit to 6-5. It wasn't enough and the Wizard from Oz took the match 10-6.
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