Grand Slam of Darts 2014 Results: Quarter-Finals Scores, Updated Draw, Schedule
Kim Huybrechts caused the upset of the tournament as he destroyed world No. 2, Michael van Gerwen.
And it was double delight for Huybrechts, making his way to the semi-finals with a classic televised nine-dart finish in the final legs.
Van Gerwen was not in his best form during the match but started to find his rhythm late in the game, but it was not enough.
Five-tme champion Phil Taylor dominated Michael Smith on his way to another semi-final berth, where he'll face in-form Mervyn King.
Here, we take a look at the quarterfinal action, with score and schedule information.
Schedule and Updated Draw
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Sunday, November 16
Afternoon Session (1 p.m.-5 p.m.)
Dave Chisnall v Kim Huybrechts
Phil Taylor v Mervyn King
Evening Session (7 p.m.-9 p.m.)
Final
All information and statistics courtesy of PDC.tv, unless stated otherwise.
Quarter Final Latest Results and Fixtures
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Full Quarter-finals line-up and results:
Dave Chisnall 16-14 Keegan Brown
Michael van Gerwen 10-16 Kim Huybrechts
Mervyn King 16-9 Stephen Bunting
Phil Taylor 16-3 Michael Smith
Saturday Recap
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Results
Mervyn King 16-9 Stephen Bunting
Phil Taylor 16-3 Michael Smith
Best of 31 legs
Favourites Mervyn King and Phil Taylor both easily progressed to the final day of competition, recording easy quarter-final wins over Stephen Bunting and Michael Smith on Saturday.
The King took advantage of a miss on tops by Bunting to take the opening leg in the early and never looked back, never trailing on his way to a routine 16-9 win. Bunting actually finished the match with a higher average, but a six percent advantage in the checkout category got the job done for King.
Despite a slight scare in the second leg, where he missed five doubles, King was in total control throughout the encounter. A two-leg cushion turned into three in the ninth, and the King switched gears in the 15th, elevating his average significantly.
A 12-daters made it 11-6 all but ended the match, and Bunting's continued struggles on the double made life easy for King, who put the finishing touch on his win with a 13-darter.
The King told Live Darts he "didn't think Stephen (Bunting) would make things this easy" on him and that he'd need an average of 104 or 105 to make it to the final.
Smith won the opening leg against the Power and managed to keep things close until the first break, but tied at 3-3, Taylor showed everyone why he's the five time defending champion at this event. Winning an incredible 13 straight legs, the final score of 16-3 sent a stern warning to the rest of the field.
Kicking things off with an 11-darter, Taylor started hitting 180s at an incredible rate, before hitting another 11-darter in the 11th. Smith was clearly growing frustrated at this point, and a 180 of his own wasn't enough to deny the Power the win in the next leg as well.
By the time the match was over, the averages were simply staggering: 107.28 for Taylor against a miserable 86.45 for Smith, who clearly lost all signs of hope at the midway point of the encounter and just wanted to get off the stage as quickly as possible.
Taylor and King will meet in Sunday's second semi-final, right after Kim Huybrechts and Dave Chisnall complete their match.
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Friday Recap
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Dave Chisnall claimed his place in the semi-finals after a fight-back victory over the inexperienced Keegan Brown, but the night belonged to Kim Huybrechts, who dumped out the mercurial Michael van Gerwen.
The Hurricane sped past the world No. 1 in impressive fashion, playing some of the best darts of his life to take the win by 16-10.
Huybrechts won 12 of the first 16 legs to take a commanding lead, as van Gerwen struggled to get to grips with his own game, and his opponent's stunning form.
But the Dutch superstar started to make a small comeback and dent into the proceedings, bringing the tie back to 13-7.
However, the moment of the night came as Huybrechts fired a classic nine-dart finish to further his lead and make the watching crowd go wild.
The battle was then soon over with van Gerwen out of the tournament—an event he is still yet to win.
Huybrechts was delighted with his efforts and he was clearly stunned by the night's action, per Paul Higham of Sky Sports:
"I’m absolutely buzzing, what a brilliant game. Michael didn’t take his chances obviously, when he’s firing there’s only one player who can beat him and that’s Phil Taylor. He wasn’t there, but I’m happy with my performance, I’m so happy.
That has to be the best performance of my life—a nine-darter, a win against the World No 1, the world champion in a big tournament. OK, he may not have played at his best but for me personally, that’s the best game of my life.
"
In the other quarterfinal, Chisnall came back from 12-6 down to edge past Brown for a place in the semis. Chisnall had struggled for most of the match, with Brown in impressive form.
But the world No. 6 battled back and finally took the lead in the 29th leg—the first time he had been in front on the night.
Chisnall then edged over the line to knock out a hugely disappointed Brown, who ended Raymond van Barneveld's tournament in the last round.
Chisnall won the game 16-14 but was full of praise for his young opponent, per Higham:
"What a game, this young man here is so, so good. I didn’t think he’d come out and play as well as he did."
It is difficult to say whether the Hurricane can produce yet another whirlwind of a performance and make his way to the final—tonight showed a quality that he has threatened in previous tournaments but never quite reached.
Chisnall will be relieved that he stumbled over the line and he would have used a lot of nervous energy on Friday night—an element that could cost him dearly in the semi-finals.
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