World Darts Championship: Phil Taylor, Peter Wright and Adrian Lewis record wins
Tuesday 29 December 2015 07:30, UK
Phil Taylor battled past his old adversary Kevin Painter at the World Darts Championship on Monday night.
In a rematch of the 2004 Alexandra Palace final which Taylor won, he repeated the trick with a 4-1 victory despite not reaching the heights of a decade ago.
Taylor continued a remarkable winning streak of 30 straight games against Painter but, for significant periods in the early exchanges, it seemed like an upset could be on the cards.
Painter held his throw in the opening leg as Taylor released a few nervy efforts, a trend that continued into the next leg which 16-time world champion took in unconvincing fashion. A cracking shot at double 16 kept Painter's nose in front and with Taylor taking his time to find comfort at the oche, the underdog wrapped up a third leg to go 1-0 ahead.
He then remarkably broke Taylor's throw within moments of returning for the second set, finishing the job with a double 16 that seemed to wake 'The Power' up. Taylor responded with two straight legs and, after Painter's 110 checkout forced a decider, won the set with his fourth dart at a double.
Taylor's performance was best summed up by a bizarre leg in the third set which he eventually lost before both players retreated to their glasses of water to summarise the events.
Taylor, at 2-1 up in the third, first missed double 16 by the width of the wire before Painter missed three darts to win the leg. Taylor then missed three of his own to take the leg before Painter begrudgingly returned to hit his target. In the decider, Taylor twice failed to hit double two to win the set but profited from Painter missing four darts at a double himself. Taylor eventually stumbled over the line.
There were moments of genuine quality - Taylor hit a 170 checkout and a 13-dart leg to dominate the fourth set and go 3-1 up. From there his greater experience under the brightest lights ensured he booked a last-16 berth.
Adrian Lewis and Peter Wright enjoyed far more straightforward nights to advance into the next round, earning 4-0 whitewashes against Andrew Gilding and Ronny Huybrechts respectively.
Wright missed his first four darts at a double to gift Huybrechts the first leg but it was a very brief lead. Wright belted double 16 at the first time of asking to level the scores then carried that form through the next two legs. He left the oche for a break in a very different mood to his fun-loving entrance as it became clear that he hadn't yet found comfort.
But Wright still motored on, sneaking the first leg of the second set then breaking throw with a finish from 80. Again he seemed miffed despite opening a two-set lead, but Huybrechts was not able to challenge him frequently enough.
A Huybrechts error in the early stages of the third set allowed Wright to go two legs ahead, before the Belgian finally stopped the rot. It hardly mattered as Wright took out 59 to go 3-0 ahead and waltzed through the final set, at which point Huybrechts had the look of a beaten man.
Earlier, Lewis struck a maximum with his very first visit against Gilding, going 1-0 up in the opening set inside 11 darts, and doubling his lead with a bullseye finish from 84. He wrapped up the first set at breakneck speed before Gilding finally got himself on the scoreboard.
As Lewis raced through the second set, Gilding couldn't even bare to watch as he threw the decisive arrow to confirm a 2-0 lead. Gilding mustered a brief fight in the third set but Lewis, who was racking up the 180s at will, took a three-set lead so comfortably that it barely drew a reaction from either player.
Gilding had a checkout opportunity in the first leg of the fourth set but when he missed Lewis crucially broke his throw. That was the final straw for Gilding, and Lewis cruised through the next two legs with a 103 average to book a third-round match against Mensur Suljovic.
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