Michael Smith has proved once again that he has the game to be World Champion.
The Unicorn ace demolished Luke Humphries 5-1 to set up a World Championship semi-final against Nathan Aspinall.
And of course the dream of an all Unicorn World Championship Final is still very much alive. Gary Anderson’s brilliant 5-2 victory over Dave Chisnall on Saturday afternoon sets up that semi-final showdown with Michael van Gerwen.
Smith defied his own double trouble to win in an hour with Humphries unable to
Gary Anderson came up with the goods when it really mattered with a blistering display at the Alexandra Palace.
Without doubt his best performance of this World Championship as he took out Dave Chisnall 5-2 in a high quality quarter-final on Saturday.
After squeezing past Jermaine Wattimena and Chris Dobey, the Unicorn star stamped his class on a thrilling encounter despite his ongoing back problems.
“It is a relief for sure,” he admitted. “I’m glad it’s over. I would really have struggled if it
Michael Smith is a big step closer achieving his dream.
The Unicorn star took just 50 minutes to brush past Ryan Searle by four sets to one.
He should have won 4-0 but missed match darts. In the end Smith got the job done and this victory takes him back up to No.8 in the world.
“I am pretty pleased with that,” he said. “I started slowly but got into my stride and managed to keep it together despite the missed match darts.”
“I truly believe I can win this and will get better. I will have to.” Smith
Darts legend John Lowe has been awarded an MBE in the New Year's Honours list for services to darts and to charity.
One of the elite group of darts players to become a three-time World Champion, Lowe's achievements came across three decades with victories in 1979, 1987 and 1993.
The Team Unicorn star, now 73, was also the World Masters champion twice and News of the World Championship winner, but is arguably best-known for his achievement in recording the first televised nine-darter at the 1984 MFI
The dream is over for James Wade and Devon Petersen.
Wade missed FIVE match darts to beat Ryan Joyce and there was heartache for Devon Petersen who was edged out 4-3 in a tie-break by Nathan Aspinall.
The Unicorn duo will both feel they blew golden opportunities to reach the World Championship quarter-finals.
Wade led three sets to two against Joyce. He had hit a superb 81 on the bull to avoid going two sets down before hitting the front.
He will be hugely disappointed. In the sixth set he should
Chris Dobey produced the performance of his life but just fell short as mentor Gary Anderson battled his way into the World Championship quarter-finals.
In a dramatic all Unicorn last 16 showdown, Anderson edged a thriller 4-3 in a tie-break, despite Dobey equalling the record for 180s hit in a last 16 World Championship match. He banged in an incredible 15 maximums!
There were 28 x 180s in 33 legs of darts. It was an incredible hour-and-a-half at the Ally Pally on Thursday night. Anderson was superb
It was the perfect post-Christmas performance from the Team Unicorn duo of Michael Smith and Devon Petersen.
Both won their 3rd Round matches 4-2. Smith beat John Henderson and will now face Ryan Searle for a quarter-final spot, while Petersen overcame Steve West and will next take on Nathan Aspinall.
But Dimitri van den Bergh is out after he was stunned 4-1 by Luke Humphries.
Smith was made to work by an inspired Henderson who kept pace for four sets with a host of 180s and three ton plus finishes.
Hats off to James Wade!
He produced a fabulous fight back to take out Keegan Brown 4-3 in yet another dramatic all-Unicorn World Championship clash on Sunday.
And there was also joy for Unicorn youngster Chris Dobey, who reached the last 16 for the very first time at the Alexandra Palace with a superb 4-3 win over Vincent van der Voort,
Dobey will now face friend and mentor Gary Anderson in an all-Unicorn battle for a quarter-final place at the World Championship.
But Wade was 0-2 and 1-3 down and
It was the match of the tournament and Unicorn star Gary Anderson has won through to the last 16 at the World Championship after an Alexandra Palace epic.
He beat Jermaine Wattimena in a nail-biting last set tie-break after missing five darts to win the match 4-2.
It was what the World Championship is all about. It was a happy 48th birthday in the end for Anderson.
Pure drama, pure theatre, pure entertainment.....
“I can’t believe that I won that,” Gary admitted. “He was brilliant and he kept pushing
It was the performance of his life!
Devon Petersen produced an incredible comeback to beat Ian White in a thrilling all Unicorn clash on Friday night.
He won in a dramatic final set tie-break to reach round three.
Also on Friday, Dimitri van den Bergh was brilliant in beating Jonny Clayton......Kyle Anderson came through a tough test against Noel Malicdem of the Philippines and Keegan Brown was a winner in the all Unicorn showdown with Jelle Klaasen.
But Devon was the star of the show as White’s
