Grand Slam of Darts: Adrian Lewis reaches last 16 with victory over Jim Williams
Written by News on 13/11/2019
Adrian Lewis rolled back the years to join Michael van Gerwen, Gerwyn Price and Gary Anderson in the Grand Slam of Darts last 16 .
On a night that had the abacuses out with seven of the remaining eight places up for grabs, the big guns prevailed before Lewis found some long overdue form.
Trailing 3-1, Jackpot found the form of a two-time world champion with a spectacular burst that rained down maximums of the BDO’s No 3 Jim Williams and saw him over the finish line.
Lewis booked his place in the tournament for the first time in three years by coming through the qualifiers last Monday and he sealed the win with a superb 113 finish that sets up a meeting with James Wade.
There is also the tantalising prospect of a repeat of last year’s controversial final between Price and Anderson in the quarter-final should both advance from their respective last 16 showdowns with resurgent Robert Thornton and Darren Webster, who came through on Tuesday night.
Van Gerwen was the headline act, and he lived up to that billing, joining Michael Smith, Gabriel Clemens, Peter Wright and Dave Chisnall in claiming maximum points from the group stages.
The world No 1 is feeling the effects of a cold and was in no mood to hang around, chalking up a 5-2 win over Ross Smith with an incredible display that saw him average more than 111 and take out finishes of 110 and 100 along the way.
Smith, who beat MvG the last time they met, averaged more than 100 himself and him two of his three darts at double but Van Gerwen won his five legs in 12, 13, 12, 12 and 12 darts to lay down a serious marker for the rest of the tournament.
In Group D, Gary Anderson and Darren Webster made it through. The pair clashed in a high-class penultimate match of the night when Webster shocked the two-time world champion.
Dave Parletti’s 5-2 win over William O’Connor meant that Webster only needed two legs to advance but when Anderson raced into a 3-1 lead it looked ominous for the Demolition Man and O’Connor’s hopes remained alive.
But inspired by an average of 100 and a couple of 100+ finishes, Webster fought his way to a 5-4 win to advance alongside Anderson in style and put a difficult couple of months behind him after injury.
In Group C, Robert Thornton’s 5-3 win meant that Gerwyn Price and Dimitri van den Bergh faced a virtual play-off to join the Scot in the second round, although a 5-4 win for the Belgian would be enough to send both through.
But Price, defending his title, came out firing, averaging 103 on his way to a 4-0 lead before Van den Bergh stopped the rot and reignited his hopes.
But it wasn’t to be, a couple of legs for The Dreammaker only delayed Price’s progress, the Welshman took out the winning double for a 5-2 win and top spot in the group.
Thornton ended Suzuki’s slim hopes but the women’s world champion acquitted herself well in a 5-3 defeat to a resurgent Thornton. The Japanese ace kept coming back at the Scot levelling on three occasions before Thornton got over the line to set-up a clash with Anderson.
Group B proved to be the first test for the mathematicians but in the end it was Wade and Ian White that prevailed, leaving Steve Lennon as the unlucky man, eliminated despite a couple of victories.
The tone was set early with White eventually picking up a 5-4 win over BDO No 1 Wesley Harms but he was forced to dig deep after White had raced into a 3-0 lead.
Harms levelled at 3-3 but White prevailed in the decider.
It meant Wade and Lennon took to the stage knowing what they needed to do, The Machine needed three legs to advance and four to top the group even in defeat, Lennon just needed a win.
And it was the man from Carlow who took the honours, hauling himself back from 3-0 down to win 5-4 but it was to no avail and Wade had done enough to set up his showdown with Jackpot.
Coverage of the Grand Slam of Darts continues on Wednesday with the start of the knockout stages, join us on Sky Sports Action & Main Event from 7pm and follow along with all the news, interviews & results at www.skysports.com/darts
(c) Sky Sports 2019: Grand Slam of Darts: Adrian Lewis reaches last 16 with victory over Jim Williams
