All four quarter-finals of the Darts World Championships took place yesterday, leaving us with our New Year's Day semi-final line-up. The first match of the afternoon saw darts' new favourite couple, Kim Huybrechts and his girlfriend Dana, exit the tournament at the hands of Andy Hamilton. Hamilton took the first set 3-1 before winning the deciding leg in the second set to double his lead. The Belgian debutant hit back with a 3-0 third set victory but he couldn't build from it. Hamilton roared back with a 3-1 fourth set victory and then took the fifth set without conceding. Huybrechts kept his World Championships alive by making it 4-2 after taking the sixth set 3-1 but Hamilton wasn't going to lose and won the seventh set by the same scoreline to win the match 5-2.
The second match of the afternoon was one of the best matches in World Championships history between James Wade and John Part. Wade looked to be in full control of the match after only conceding three legs on his way to leading 3-1, Part equalised via the deciding leg in set two. But the Canadian fought back by taking the fifth leg in set five and then taking the following set without conceding to level the match. But Part wasn't content with just levelling the match and he went onto take the lead by again taking the fifth leg in the seventh set. This time it was Wade's turn to keep himself in the game and he did that back by winning the eighth set 3-1 to force the ninth and final set. Despite the nerves jangling, both players put on a stunning 140 and 180 fest as the set went into a tie break. But still neither player could break their opponent and the match stood a two sets and five legs all. This meant a closest to the bull contest to determine who throws first in the sudden death leg. Both players his the outer bull on the first attempt, but Part surrendered the throw after missing the bull with Wade hitting the bulls-eye. That was possibly the most crucial dart of the match as it helped Wade to win the deciding leg to conclude a fantastic game of darts. Overall Part hit 42 100+ scores compared to Wade's 62. The Canadian hit 26 140+ scores with The Machine hitting 31 but both players managed an incredible nine 180s in the stunning encounter.
Last year's runner-up, Gary Anderson, failed to turn up against Simon Whitlock in the opening match of the evening. Anderson did take the first set 3-1 but then failed to find his doubles. Whitlock punished Anderson every time and took the second set via the decider before taking the lead with a 3-1 third set victory. The fourth set also went down to the final leg which the Australian won before making it 4-1 without conceding in the fifth set. Anderson then went 2-0 ahead in the sixth set only to find himself losing it 3-2 to give Whitlock the 5-1 victory to set up a semi-final tie against Andy Hamilton.
The reigning World Champion, Adrian Lewis, was made to fight harder than perhaps he should have against Terry Jenkins. Lewis only conceded two legs in the first three sets, winning the third 3-0 to storm into a set lead of the same score. But remarkably the game changed, Lewis started missing the trebles and Jenkins only conceded three legs in the following three sets, winning the fifth set 3-2 and the sixth without conceding to level the match a 3-3. But the battle to level the match took its toll on Jenkins as Lewis regained momentum. He took the seventh set 3-1 before doing the same in the following set to win the match 5-3 and sets up a tasty encounter against James Wade.
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