Raymond Van Barneveld's Premier League semi-final and Phil Taylor hoodoo continued in the first semi-final in the O2. Before today, the Dutchman had lost five Premier League semi-finals and this would become his sixth. In all fairness to Barney, he didn't do a lot wrong, it was all about Taylor hitting the Dutchman at the right time.
Taylor held in the second leg with an 84-checkout on the bull. Barney would win the fifth leg with a great 116-checkout to make it 3-2, maintaining all legs going with throw. But the crucial leg turned out to be leg seven when Barney missed a dart to hold for the fourth time, this allowed Taylor to break and go 4-3 in front. Van Barneveld then looked set to make it 5-4 as he was sitting pretty, but Taylor stabbed Barney in the heart with an incredible 164-checkout, making the score 6-3 and completely shattering the Dutchman's spirit. Taylor then made it five in legs in a row to go 7-3 in front before managing to see of Van Barneveld with a 46-checkout to win 8-4.
It wasn't a great night for James Wade in the second semi-final. The Machine wasn't running at his most efficient and against Michael Van Gerwen, you're always going to struggle. Wade missed a dart in the opening leg to allow the Dutchman to instantly break. Wade then missed another three darts in the second leg to go 2-0 behind. Van Gerwen would break again to make it three legs on the spin but this time Wade was able to fire in a 116-checkout to this time break back.
Wade's first hold of throw didn't come until the seventh leg where he found himself 5-2 behind. The pair would then break each other again in legs nine and ten to make it 7-3. Van Gerwen then seemed to slow down as he was on the verge of winning and he missed three darts to win it 8-3. Wade stuck in there but then he missed three darts of his own in the 12th leg to allow Van Gerwen his place against Taylor in the final.
Between the semi-finals and the final, there was the small matter of the World Youth Championship Final between Ricky Evans and Michael Smith. Smith was the heavily backed favourite after having featured in a few major tournaments already. But it was Evans who got off to a great start, winning the opening leg with a great 106-checkout. But that would be the only leg Evans was to win as Smith showed his class and Evans couldn't continue his first leg form. Two checkouts of four saw Smith make it six straight legs to claim the World Championship with a 6-1 victory.
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