The opening quarter final between Belgium and Croatia was the only match that didn't require the deciding doubles match. Kim Huybrechts faced Tonci Restovic and the Croatian started better than in previous matches with a 97-checkout to take the opening leg. But Huybrechts quickly took the next three legs before Restovic made it 3-2 with a 104-checkout. Huybrechts completed the job in the next leg to win the game 4-2 and put Belgium 1-0 ahead.
This meant that if Ronny Huybrechts could beat Robert Marijanovic, the Belgians would be safely through. Unfortunately for Croatia, Marijanovic failed to perform quite like he has done in the tournament. The Croatian did level the match at 1-1 before missing three darts to level the game again. Marijanovic would then miss a further four darts to take the fifth, allowing Huybrechts to win the game 4-1 and place Belgium into the final four.
Antonio Alcinas faced Mark Webster in the first game between Spain and Wales. Webster took the opening leg before both players darts at the double until Alcinas took out five to level the score. Alcinas then made it 2-1 with a classy 25-bull finish to check-out 80. Webster responded with a 102-checkout and then had to force a final leg at 3-3. Alcinas was first to the double and it looked like the shock was on, but he missed four darts to win it and Webster apologetically took the leg to win the game, giving Wales the lead.
Carlos Rodriguez needed to beat Richie Burnett to force the deciding doubles match. Burnett would miss three darts to go 2-1 ahead after initially losing the opener. Burnett wasn't really on his game but a magnificent 156-checkout came out of the blue to force a deciding leg. But Rodriguez held on and found a 40-checkout to level the match.
Spain would take the first leg in the doubles match and Alcinas found the double to make it 2-1. Wales again equalised before Spain missed three darts at the double to allow Wales to take the lead for the first time. That gave the Welsh the momentum and they managed to win the sixth leg to win the game 4-2 and progress into the semi-finals.
After England's 5-0 romp over Japan in the group phase, many would have been forgiven for thinking that this would have been a similar result. Indeed it began to look that way when Phil Taylor took on Haruki Muramatsu. Muramatsu did win the first leg but didn't get a look in for the rest of the game. Taylor won it 4-1 with a sublime 167-checkout to finish off.
Adrian Lewis has been nowhere near his best this tournament and has largely been a passenger. He had his work cut out against Sho Katsumi but managed to take the lead for the first time at 3-2. But the Japanese showed his defiance to take the next two legs to win the game 4-3 and force that deciding doubles match.
This was also by no means a walk over. Taylor missed three darts to win the opening leg and before they knew it, England were 2-0 down. Japan then looked favourites to go 3-1 in front but Taylor broke their hearts with a colossal 160-checkout to level the game. The Japanese couldn't recover from that and Taylor found two more doubles to drag Lewis into the semi-finals with him.
The eagerly anticipated rematch between Finland and Germany wasn't quite as spicy as their group match, but still full of drama and intrigue. Jani Haavisto faced Jyhan Artut in the opener and the German possibly played his best darts on television. Artut found a 106-checkout to put himself 3-0 ahead and just one leg from victory. Haavisto was able to prolong the agony for another before a 102-checkout put Germany ahead in the tie.
This left Jarkko Komula with it all to do for Finland against Andree Welge. Welge did take a 2-1 lead before missing the chance to go 3-2 ahead. It was instead Komula who put himself a leg from levelling the match and he made no mistake by taking the sixth leg to again force the deciding doubles match.
Despite having the partisan crowd against them, Finland looked the more composed and quickly took a 2-0 lead. The Finns would then miss seven darts to make it 3-0 and allowed Germany back in the match. The doubling got worse for Finland as they missed nine darts to win the game 4-1 and then six more darts to win it 4-2. These 15-missed darts allowed Germany to force a dramatic deciding leg but Finland managed to regain their composure to take it with the first real dart at the double to go through.
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