Darts World Matchplay 2016: Semi-Finals Results, Standings and Updated Draw
Michael van Gerwen sealed his place in the 2016 World Matchplay final with a 17-9 victory over Adrian Lewis on Saturday at Winter Gardens, Blackpool.
In the other night's game, Phil Taylor handed world champion Gary Anderson a masterclass in darts, as the legendary thrower won 17-8 to secure his spot in the tournament showdown.
Both best-of-17 leg matches were expected to be close-knit affairs, but Van Gerwen and Taylor blitzed their opponents with some electrifying scoring.
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Recap
MVG and Lewis have a renowned fierce rivalry after multiple clashes in recent months, as two of the world's top players regularly meet.
Van Gerwen took the opening leg of the final-four encounter before breaking his opponent at the first attempt with the first maximum of the contest to leave double 20 after 12 darts. He returned to the oche to break Lewis with his first arrow and announce himself on the contest.
The duo shared the next four legs before Lewis fought back with a 174 before finishing to level the tie at 3-3.
However, from that point, the defending and reigning champion stepped up his accuracy and pace, finding a magnificent rhythm to win the next five legs to take an 8-3 lead.
Per Sky Sports, the Green Machine was eager to add a 12th tournament victory of 2016 with a 62 percent on doubles for the night.
With few high checkouts of note, the semi-final was turning into a largely disappointing affair. However, that would soon change as Lewis broke Van Gerwen with a terrific 130 checkout, per PDC Darts:
But the world No. 1 was not to be outdone, as he immediately replied to dent his opponents' hopes at 11-6.
The Dutchman needed just seven more legs to progress to the World Matchplay final and continued to find the right areas. However, Lewis refused to leave his tailcoat and went into the break four behind at 12-8.
The 2013 runner-up returned to the oche following the interval to break MVG with a Double 10 despite back-to-back maximums from his opponent. However, two breaks in succession—and three straight legs—put the match to bed as a contest.
Lewis failed to make a double with three attempts, but Van Gerwen made no mistake to chalk up a brilliant 103 checkout to make it 15-9. Lacking self belief, Lewis crumbled for that point on and the Matchplay champion took the next two legs with aplomb to seal his spot in the competition showdown.
MVG spoke to PDC Darts after the match and questioned the reasons behind Lewis' tactics:
Meanwhile, PDC Darts celebrated Van Gerwen's achievement following his dominant showing:
In the day's later clash, Anderson and Taylor enjoyed the opening five legs on their terms to enter the interval at 3-2 to the 15-time champion, with both players averaging over 100 in a top tungsten tussle.
The Power returned to the oche to take the first break of the clash before embarking upon some supreme darts. Anderson missed two crucial doubles to allow Taylor to finish a 19, forcing a double-break against the back-to-back world champion.
The Stoke thrower would take an astonishing five legs in a row before Anderson pulled himself back into contention to make it 7-3, finishing with a double 8.
In what was expected to a hotly contested affair, Taylor produced an exquisite masterclass with the arrows. After five perfect darts to open the leg, he eventually cleaned up on 11 to take a seven-leg advantage at 10-3.
Anderson simply was not realising his potential in Blackpool, and the world No. 2 was swamped by the focus, quality and determination of his more experienced rival. The 55-year-old Taylor was simply stunning whenever he stepped up to take his efforts at the board, throwing metronomically into the correct beds. With the break moments away, he found double top to reel away celebrating and take an 11-4 lead.
PDC Darts caught the moment Taylor secured that leg:
Anderson returned with all guns blazing with another maximum, but he remained powerless to halt the juggernaut as Taylor stretched his leg lead to eight. The Scot did manage to pull a leg back in the next, albeit in bizarre circumstances after Taylor's purposely wasted darted landed on 19, before taking his second consecutive leg moments after to make it 12-6.
BBC Journalist Frank Keogh was impressed by the performance of the iconic player, who displayed talent that belied his age:
But Taylor's composure and calmness were what eventually saw him through. He took an eight-leg advantage at 14-6 into the last stage of the competition after more missed doubles by the two-time Matchplay semi-finalist.
Anderson clawed a couple of legs back to take it to 16-8m but Taylor completed the job in style with a 17-8 finish to set up a repeat of the 2014 final against the Dutch heavy-hitter.
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