Nine Darter in Second Round

The second round in Blackpool began with a nine-darter, the highlight of four fantastic matches. Michael Van Gerwen cemented the accolade ten years after Phil Taylor did it in The Winter Gardens. His opponent was Steve Beaton who couldn't do an awful lot to stem the Dutch tide.

The first six legs all went with throw, with Van Gerwen securing a 108 finish in the third leg and a 116 in the fifth. Beaton was the first to break the throw in the seventh before Van Gerwen broke back with a 128-finish. Then the Dutchman made history, six perfect darts was followed by the 141 finish to secure that emphatic nine darter.

Van Gerwen wasn't done there, he then posted his fifth ton plus check-out, this time of 116, in leg-11 to make it 6-5 before Beaton again levelled the match. The Dutchman then pounced, winning four legs in a row to secure a lead of 10-5. The last hoorah for Van Gerwen came in leg-19 where he scored a Shanghai finish on the way to taking two of the next three legs to win the match 13-9.

James Wade played just as well as Van Gerwen for the majority of his match against Mark Walsh, who didn't put up as much of a fight as Beaton. Wade took a 2-0 lead before Walsh managed to secure a 121 finish in the third leg. Wade wasn't to be out done though and The Machine responded with a 158 in leg five to take a 4-1 lead.

He would then reel off a further two legs before he managed to secure a 140-checkout, taking his lead to 7-1. It soon became eight consecutive legs until Walsh stopped the rot in leg-12. Walsh would win a further two legs to end up on the end of a 13-4 thrashing. Wade and Van Gerwen will now meet in the quarter finals.  

The third match of the night was a thriller between Raymond Van Barneveld and Terry Jenkins, with The Bull managing to progress into the last eight. The first legs went with throw before Barney fired a 109-checkout to steal the first session 3-2.

But Jenkins broke straight back before holding the throw in leg seven via a double-18 followed by double-11 after initially missing the board with his first dart. Barney secured three legs on the spin from leg ten to 13, the highlight being a 104 finish in leg-13 to lead 7-5. But Jenkins would then five of the next seven legs to turn the match around to lead 10-9. A 110 followed by a 36 left Jenkins requiring one leg to win the match, which he got in leg-23 to win the match 13-10.

The last match of the night didn't look like it'd finish 13-8 after the start Adrian Lewis had over Andy Smith. A 116 finish from Jackpot in leg three was just one of the opening seven legs. The World Champion lost his first leg of the tournament in the eighth before smashing a 138-checkout to lead 8-1.

Smith restored some pride with three legs on the spin, culminating in a two double tops ton finish in leg-12. That then became six legs out seven for the Pieman who had now reduced the arrears to 9-7. But a 149 broke the momentum which allowed Lewis to take two of the next three legs to win the game and secure his passage into the last eight.