James Wade and Wayne Jones into second round of Grand Slam
World Grand Prix winner James Wade booked his place in the second round of the Grand Slam of Darts last night, while local boy Wayne Jones qualified at the expense of Mark Webster.
Wade headed into his match against Vincent van der Voort, the fastest player on the circuit, knowing he was under pressure to win, and he didn’t disappoint, winning in the final leg of the match.
With Tony O’Shea already booking his place with top-spot in the group and his third win out of three against Justin Pipe, a win for either Wade or Van der Voort would see them go through.
Wade went into a 3-0 lead after hitting two 14-dart legs and checking out 97, leaving Van der Voort with plenty to do. The Dutchman landed double 16 to get off the mark, but Wade went to within one leg of victory after taking out a 104.
Looking like Wade would cruise to the second round, Van der Voort began the comeback, and was inspired by a brilliant 156 checkout to then force a decider after finishing with a 14-dart leg and a 72. Van der Voort’s efforts were in vain as Wade hit three scores of 100-plus to eventually go through.
“My form's a bit indifferent at the moment and there wasn't a lot between Vincent and myself tonight,” said the No.2 seed for the Grand Slam.
Wade will now play Mervyn King in the next round after he overcame John Henderson 5-4. Like Wade’s match, King and Henderson battled it out for a place in the second round, but it was King who made sure he wasn’t going to be another big name falling at the first hurdle, like Simon Whitlock did.
King already had two wins to his name by beating ladies’ world champion Stacy Bromberg and the already-qualified Terry Jenkins, and was made to work for the win to top the group.
Henderson performed brilliantly, having a better average than King- 92.16 to King’s 87.69- but when Henderson took a leg he was unable to make the advantage count. Despite winning, King admits he is still not at his best yet in the event.
“I'm nowhere near my best and the last two months have been very bad for me,” said King, whose father passed away recently. “I lost my dad and I'm still not over that, and it might take several months for that to happen.
“As soon as I get it right in my head my game will come good again, but I'm trying my hardest here and hopefully I can go on to good things in the rest of the tournament,” added King.
While there was some joy for King, there was heartache for former BDO world champion Webster, as he missed six darts to book his place. Even though he beat Gary Anderson, who was already through, 5-3, he lost out on legs difference to Jones, who beat Mark Hylton 5-3 earlier.
The crowd at the Wolverhampton Civic Hall cheered on their man Jones, who managed to win to put the pressure on Webster, who needed to win 5-1 to go through, or 5-2 to force a nine-dart shootout against Jones.
As Jones waited in the player’s lounge anxiously, Webster came out of the blocks firing, and went 2-0 up by hitting double 15 and double tops as Anderson missed his doubles.
The Flying Scotsman pulled a leg back, but Webster went 3-1 up at the break after he hit double five, and was only two legs away from knocking out home favourite Jones. The break didn’t disrupt the rhythm of Webster and he raced into a 4-1 lead to be on the verge of victory.
Webster set himself up for the win he needed to get through, but six missed doubles at double top, 10 and five allowed Anderson to take the leg. Webster still had the chance to take part in a shootout with Jones, but Anderson took another leg to make the score 4-3, ending Webster’s hopes of progression and sending Jones through.
Webster was close to tears on the stage as he knew he threw away the chance, and he restored some pride by winning the match 5-3. “To beat Gary 5-1 was always going to be a big ask and to be honest I didn't think I could do that against a player of his quality when I went on stage,” said an extremely disappointed Webster.
“I gave it a good go and I'm gutted that I wasted my chance, but the best two players go through and I wasn't in the best two, so I go home,” added the Welshman.
Anderson will now play Colin Osborne, who sealed his place by beating BDO world finalist Dave Chisnall 5-3 and taking second-spot, with Robert Thornton topping the group and now primed to face the much-relieved Jones. O’Shea will play Jenkins in the second round as well.
Tags: