Sunday, 7 July 2013

2013 European Darts Championship Round Two

Jelle Klaasen 10-6 Justin Pipe: The Dutchman has returned to darts in fine form and continues that by booking his place in the quarter finals for first time in three years on television. Pipe had actually started the better by taking a 3-1 lead. But Klaasen fought back with checkouts of 127, 121 and 110 to go 4-3 in front. Pipe managed to turn it around once more by taking leads of 5-4 and 6-5 before the pair were locked together after 12-legs. But Klaasen again found an edge, hitting checkouts of 167 and 106 before also winning the following two legs to take the match 10-6.

Andy Hamilton 10-8 Paul Nicholson: The Hammer sees off Nicholson in a tight affair but this game may be more remembered for Nicholson’s spat with Eric Bristow on Twitter afterwards. The first four legs went with throw before both players proceeding to break, making the score 3-3. Hamilton missed four darts to win the eighth leg and Nicholson was soon 6-3 in front. That became 7-4 before Hamilton managed to fight back and level after The Asset missed a dart to win the 14th leg. Nicholson would then miss a further four darts in the next two legs, putting Hamilton just a leg away from victory. The Hammer would then see of Nicholson in the 18th leg, 10-8.

Simon Whitlock 10-6 Colin Lloyd: The reigning champion is through after a comfortable second part to this match. The first eight legs went with throw before Whitlock finally broke and managed to take a 6-4 lead with a hold in the tenth. The score would then translate to 8-6 before Whitlock took the next two legs, with Lloyd missing darts to win the 15th leg, for Whitlock to win 10-6 and continue his defence.

James wade 2-10 Jamie Caven: The surprise of the afternoon was definitely Caven’s fantastic victory over Wade. With seven points between them in the averages the key was the finishing, Caven managed a 56% checkout rate with Wade only a 22%. Caven started like a train, taking a 4-0 lead with Wade only getting one chance at a double, in the fourth leg. Wade did manage to pull two legs back before Caven reeled off six straight legs to win in emphatic fashion, without giving Wade much of a chance throughout the contest.

Adrian Lewis 10-6 Kevin Painter: Lewis continues his hunt for a major since his double world triumph. Checkouts of 158 and 103 put Jackpot 3-2 ahead before Painter managed to level the match. Lewis, somewhat back to his best, went in to a 5-3 lead which would become a 6-4 one. Lewis would then take the next four legs to power through and win the match 10-4 with an average of 100.34.

Robert Thornton 10-9 Raymond van Barneveld: There was a piece of personal history as Thornton managed to beat van Barneveld for the first time ever in a competition. Barney crucially missed four darts to take a 3-1 lead and Thornton actually went in to the first break 3-2 in front. Thornton was next to miss a great chance, missing three darts to go 4-2 ahead and, after missing another five darts, van Barneveld actually managed to 5-4 in front. But Thornton again came back and turned it around to lead 6-5 and would then miss two darts to make it 7-5. Checkouts of 133 and 142 either side of a 64-finish put the Scot 9-6 in front a one leg away from victory. The beleaguered Barney then managed to pick himself to hit a 164-checkout before managing to force a deciding leg after Thornton had missed three match darts in leg-17. Thornton threw first in the final leg and managed to get to the double first, but missed his first three attempts. Barney stepped up but missed his two match darts, allowing Thornton to take the final leg and squeeze through.

Phil Taylor 5-10 Ronny Huybrechts: The Belgian performs one of the shocks of the tournament against a very un-Tayloresque performance. Take nothing away from Huybrechts though, he took the match to Taylor from the get go and, after losing the opening leg, would storm in to a 5-1 lead. Huybrechts would miss six darts to win leg eight and Taylor had managed to fight back to 5-4. But instead of crumbling, Huybrechts picked it up a gear and again continued the offensive. The Belgian won the next three legs to go 8-4 in front before missing a dart in the 13th leg to move to within one of winning. Again, it didn’t faze Huybrechts and, after Taylor missed three darts, he managed to get to the line before crossing it with a fantastic 104-checkout to round off a 10-5 victory, the best of his career so far.


Mervyn King 3-10 Michael van Gerwen: If van Gerwen was extremely flat on Friday; he definitely got his together against King to remain the man to beat in this tournament, and the world of darts at the minute. After sharing the first two legs, the Dutchman moved in to a 4-1 lead with a 136-checkout in leg four. Van Gerwen then added a 130-checkout to that in leg seven before King replied with a 111-checkout to make it 5-3 to the Dutchman. Van Gerwen would the win the next five in an astonishing ten minutes, with a second 136-checkout on the way, to win it 10-3 in devastating fashion.   

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