2012 European Darts Championships: Quarter Finals

There were shocks in the first session of Sunday's action with both Phil Taylor and Raymond Van Barneveld failing to make it into tonight's finals night. The loss marks Taylor's first in the history of the European Darts Championships, meaning there will be a new, second, name on the trophy.

The afternoon began with Andy Hamilton taking on Wes Newton. Newton took out a 115-checkout to secure the first break of throw before Hamilton responded to level the match at 2-2. The Hammer then missed four darts to secure a second break of throw, eventually allowing Newton to level the match up at 4-4. It was Newton who would then gain that break of throw and took a 7-5 lead. That transpired into an 8-7 lead before Newton took out a 129-checkout to win the match 10-7 and give himself a great chance of winning his first major.

Taylor faced Brendan Dolan and the Power continued to play at a substandard, by his standards at least, level. The pair were locked at 2-2 before Dolan took advantage of Taylor missing doubles to take a 5-2 lead. Taylor did fight back to reduce the deficit to 5-4 but Dolan wasn't deterred and soon re-extended his lead to 7-4. Taylor's last leg made the score 8-6 before the Northern Irishman crossed the finish line to progress into the last four.

Van Barneveld has arguably had quite a difficult draw this tournament and it was the high flying Kim Huybrechts who stopped the defiant Dutchman. Huybrechts got off to the better start and quickly took a 3-1 lead. Barney roared back though and turned the match on its head by winning four straight legs to lead 5-3. But the pair were soon level again when Huybrechts made it 6-6 before then going onto take an 8-6 lead. Barney still wasn't finished and found a 120-Shanghai finish followed by a 113-checkout to level the game once again. But Huybrechts managed to hold off the attack to take the remaining two legs to win the game 10-8 and also give himself a great chance to win a major.

Simon Whitlock will have a big say about that as he also makes it into the semi-final. He faced Colin Lloyd and quickly surged into a 3-0 lead with a 121-checkout in the third leg. But Jaws fought straight back and fired a majestic 164-checkout to level the game at 3-3. The pair then traded blows at 5-5 before Whitlock took an 8-5 lead courtesy of Lloyd missing doubles. Lloyd still wasn't finished and reduced the arrears to 8-7 before Whitlock finally saw off Jaws to stake his claim for the European Championship.