The rollercoaster ride of the World Grand Prix continued on Wednesday night as we went into the night with four hot favourites all but nailed on to fill up half of the quarter-final slots and three of them are now on the boat home. It’s going to be a long old sail for the HMS PDC though as it will need to drop anchor in Lancashire, Holland and Canada as the defeated dartists disembark.
Performance of the Night
After four stellar displays over the night it’s near impossible to pick one that was any better than the rest but pushed to make a decision I’d plump for John Henderson who has reached his first ever major quarter-final by beating Wes Newton 3-2.
The opening match of the night set the tone for the rest of the evening as it swung one way then the other and ended with an outcome that few would have predicted.
The odd thing was that The Warrior was the one who seemed to have settled early as he won the opening leg against the throw in no time at all, but then errors crept in and found himself two sets down against the big Scot thanks to some consistent hitting of 140s amongst other things.
Newton dug deep and brought the contest back to two-a-piece and I would have made him favourite for the last set as he took the momentum into it, but the pressure seemed to hit the man from Fleetwood and taking seven darts to get off the mark in the fourth leg proved to be fatal as Henderson clinched it.
Really any of the winners from Wednesday night could make a good argument for being the best performers but I believe the way that Henderson managed to edge the opening two sets then wasn’t deterred by the fight back and remained composed to seal the win was the mark of someone who has a big future in the PDC.
A Very Close Second
Another man reaching his first major quarter-final is Northern Ireland’s Brendan Dolan as he saw off the conqueror of Adrian Lewis, John Part 3-1.
Dolan showed real quality during the contest and in the end seemed to take the game reasonably comfortably,
After taking the first set by the skin of his teeth with a classy bull finish, he was on the wrong end of a whitewash in the second but didn’t look back from then on as he returned the favour to Part in the third and then saw out the match to claim victory at a canter.
An average in the high 80s will make you very competitive indeed in this format, and couple it with a checkout rate of better than one in two then Dolan is a very dangerous opponent indeed, and now he goes on to face Henderson and will fancy his chances of progressing still further.
Bronze Medal
Although the only match of the night that wasn’t a shock result, the manner in which James Wade defeated Vincent van der Voort 3-2 earns the Machine the bronze medal from Wednesday evening.
The Dutchman was throwing brilliantly and that’s proved by him claiming the highest average of the night at 89.70 and having opening and finishing doubles percentages of 46 and 45% which is perfectly respectable and his good form saw him race into a 2-0 lead in sets.
Van der Voort’s performance could well have won him any of the other matches on the night but the class of Wade saw him stage a stunning comeback to comeback from the brink of defeat, winning three sets on the bounce and keeping him in contention to retain his title.
A Hugely Unlucky Fourth
For Andy Smith to defeat Raymond van Barneveld 3-1 to reach a major quarter-final and not to be rated in the top three performances of the night shows the immense quality that was on show in Dublin last night and if someone else had ranked him first, I wouldn’t have any complaints.
The main reason this is down in fourth is that Barney was so far from his best in the opening two sets that it didn’t even take much of a performance from the Pie Man before he found himself two sets to the good.
The Dutchman picked things up to win the third set without conceding but Smith showed the steel that has seen him have a really successful year so far to clinch the final set and claim a huge victory.
Barney’s long wait for another major continues but Smith’s star is on the rise, he was joint 18th in the world before the tournament, but will now overtake Jamie Caven to claim the position out right.
Smith faces Wade next and if he can pick up a win against the Machine then he will have forced people to recognise him as a serious contender.
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