Barney and Taylor Set Up Mouthwatering Semi-Final

Raymond Van Barneveld and Phil Taylor will meet in the first semi-final after the first night of quarter-finals. Both matches, on paper, looked like they would be close but both Barney and Taylor were too good for Simon Whitlock and Andy Hamilton respectively.

Van Barneveld came out like a train in the beginning, a 116-checkout in the second leg being the only one he would concede in the opening two sets. The highlight in those first seven legs was a majestic 135-checkout from Barney. Whitlock responded in the third set with a ton checkout in first leg. Barneveld had to force a deciding leg in the set before Whitlock kept the throw and halved the deficit.

A 112-checkout from Barney levelled the fourth set before Whitlock had to force a deciding leg. The Dutchman managed to hit-86 on the bull to regain his two set lead. The first four legs in the fifth set all went with throw before Barney managed to break to then go within a set of victory. That seemed to break the Aussie's spirit as the Dutchman took the sixth set without conceding to book his place in the final four with a 102-average, the second highest of the tournament.

Taylor managed to score his first ton plus checkout of the tournament with his dismantling of Hamilton. Not only did The Hammer not win a set, he only managed to take two legs in the whole match. That shouldn't have been the case as Hamilton missed two darts in the third leg to prevent Taylor taking the opening set without conceding.

Taylor then punished another two missed darts from Hamilton with a 118-checkout in the opening leg of the second set. That pushed Taylor into a two set lead, still without conceding a leg. Hamilton finally won a leg in the opening of the third set. But that only angered Taylor as he took the following three legs to cruise into a 3-0 lead.

Taylor again took the fourth set without conceding to easily go to within one set of victory. Hamilton's second and final leg of the match came in the opener of the fifth set. But again this only upset the Power as he smashed through the next three legs to set up the tantalising tie against Van Barneveld.