Nicholson Bel-ted

Paul Nicholson became the latest casualty as the quarter-final line-up has now been confirmed. The opening match of the afternoon could have been a world final once upon a time as John Part took on Kevin Painter. It was close enough to be a final as only one set failed to go to five legs. Painter took the first deciding leg before Part equalised with the second. Part then took a 2-1 lead with a 3-1 third set victory before Painter equalised with another deciding leg. The fifth and sixth sets were both won by Part via the fifth and final legs to see him progress into the last eight.

James Wade wasted no time in progressing through, conceding just five legs to Steve Farmer. Wade took the first set without conceding before winning the second set 3-1. The third and fourth sets were taken to a deciding leg but Wade won both of them to secure the 4-0 win.

The final match of the afternoon saw the upset as Paul Nicholson lost to the Belgian debutant Kim Huybrechts. Nicholson got off to a great start by taking the first leg 3-1. But from there Nicholson's game began to deteriorate as the crowd got to him. Huybrechts levelled by winning the second set 3-1 before taking the lead without conceding in the third set. Nicholson did manage a 170 checkout in the fourth set to make it 1-1 but Huybrechts went onto take the set 3-1. The fifth set also went the Belgian's way, 3-1, to see Huybrechts win the match 4-1 and progress through to the quarter finals where he'll face Andy Hamilton.

The first match of the evening nearly saw a fantastic comeback as Simon Whitlock took on Michael Van Gerwen. Whitlock looked like he would cruise into the quarters after only conceding one leg in the second set before leading the match 3-0. But the young Dutchman showed his resilience and fought back. Van Gerwen took the fourth set 3-1 before making 3-2 by winning the deciding leg in the following set. The Dutchman then took the sixth set without conceding to level the match. But his energy was spent and Whitlock took the final set 3-0 to fight off the remarkable comeback.

Dave Chisnall's final was against Phil Taylor in the last round as he couldn't rise again to beat Andy Hamilton. Hamilton conceded just five legs on his way to winning the match 4-0. The first set finished 3-1 before Hamilton made it 2-0 via the fifth leg. The third and fourth sets both finished 3-1 in Hamilton's favour.

The final man to get into the quarter finals was Gary Anderson who made an impression against Colin Lloyd.  The first set was rather sloppy from both players but Anderson took the crucial deciding leg. Then the Scot went into overdrive, winning the second without conceding in just four minutes and thirteen seconds, followed by the third set without conceding in just five minutes and 23 seconds. Anderson then seemed to go off the boil again and began missing doubles which allowed Lloyd to take the fourth set via the decider. But Anderson wasn't going to be denied and he took the fifth set without conceding, setting up the tie of the quarter finals against Simon Whitlock.