The drama and the tension returned over two sessions in the Winter Gardens as the quarter finals took place. The opening match of the night saw home town lad, Ronnie Baxter, continuing his resurgence and getting himself into the last four in front of his home crowd.
Baxter faced Justin Pipe and the opening four legs went with throw. It was advantage Pipe early on who secured the break and hold in legs five and six. But Baxter regained his composure to level the match before taking a stunning 107-checkout to take a 5-4 lead. The Rocket wasn't done there as he then produced a 150 finish to extend his advantage to 7-4.
The deficit remained two/three legs until the score read 7-9. Baxter then kicked on to take five legs on the spin to take him to within two of victory. The score then became 15-10 before Baxter completed the job with a 13-darter, taking him to his first televised semi-final for three years.
The second quarter final saw a little heat between Adrian Lewis and Terry Jenkins. It wasn't the first time that someone was upset with Lewis' antics but to see Jenkins show his distaste for the World Champion was quite unexpected. But whereas the likes of James Wade have faltered after getting angered, Jenkins continued to go onto win the match.
Again the first four legs went with throw until the Bull broke and won a further two legs to lead 5-2. But Lewis remained undeterred and managed to go into the second interval at 5-5. It then read 6-6 until two 121 finishes on the bull gave Jenkins an 8-6 lead. That then became 10-6 as Jenkins continued to assert his authority on the game. Lewis did bring it back to within two legs before Jenkins made it 11-8 and that was where he showed his distaste for Lewis, giving him the ultimate daggers before signalling that Jackpot was full of talk behind his back.
The pair went off stage for a third time at 11-9 with the pair looking somewhat reconciled. The outburst did look to have put Jenkins off his game as Lewis restored parity. But then the Bull kicked back up the gears to take a 14-11 lead before Lewis pulled a leg back. But Jenkins wasn't going to allow the World Champion to fight back and he took the next two legs to run out a 16-12 winner.
Phil Taylor returned the oche with his old darts back in his hand as he overcame a much tougher test in Andy Hamilton. Hamilton took a 2-0 lead courtesy of a 110-checkout in the second leg but Taylor responded with a 126 followed by a 127 both culminating on the bull. Taylor would then take a 4-2 lead before Hamilton roared back to level at 4-4.
The pair traded blows again as Taylor stormed into a 7-4 lead before it then became 7-6 as Hamilton refused to go away. The Power then had a 10-7 lead but again Hamilton responded, this time with a 124 finish on the bull on his way to making it 10-9. But four legs on the spin put the ball firmly in Taylor's court with Hamilton offering a 108-checkout in resistance. But it wasn't enough as Taylor would classily end the game via a 170 finish to win the game 16-11.
James Wade completes the semi-final line-up after fighting off a persistent Michael Van Gerwen. After a 116 finish on the second leg from Wade, Van Gerwen fought back to level the match at 2-2. But the Wade completely asserted his authority on the game, taking five legs on the spin to make it 7-2. It became 9-3 when Wade hit a 146 finish before a simpler 40-checkout.
A 122 looked to be the final nail in the coffin as he made it 11-5. But Van Gerwen responded with four straight legs to begin to make a fight of it. That soon became six legs from seven to get to within a leg of Wade. But the Machine wasn't to be pegged back and he managed to take four of the final six legs to make it 16-13.
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