Raymond van Barneveld knocks Michael van Gerwen out of World Darts Championship
Wednesday 30 December 2015 09:35, UK
World No 1 Michael van Gerwen was knocked out of the World Darts Championship by Raymond van Barneveld in a 4-3 third round thriller at Ally Pally on Tuesday night.
In a billing that lived up to all expectations, the Dutch pair battled arrow for arrow in a match of the highest calibre.
Mighty Mike got off to a perfect start hitting a 127 checkout for a break of throw in the opening leg before taking the first set 3-1.
But five-time world champion Van Barneveld responded with a perfect set of his own which included a 121 checkout and a 104 average.
With the darts, Van Barneveld took an unlikely third set against a Van Gerwen average of 112.
But Van Gerwen's class prevailed in the fourth set as he raced away with it 3-1, hitting a 170 checkout on the way.
The pair both then held throw on set once again to push the match to a decider. Van Barneveld had the advantage of throw in the final set and got an early break to earn 2-0 lead but was immediately broken back by Van Gerwen with a 10-dart leg.
Then, with just 80 needed to level the game Van Gerwen missed tops to hand a quarter-final meeting with Michael Smith to his old foe Van Barneveld, who needed just two darts for 96 and the win.
Competition favourite Van Gerwen exits with the highest losing match average (105.78) that the World Championship has ever witnessed.
Earlier in the night defending champion Gary Anderson eased into the last 16 with a brilliant 4-0 victory over Vincent van der Voort.
The Flying Scotsman dropped just one leg against the Dutchman, averaging 101.58 and hitting five maximums as he sent a message out to his rivals.
Anderson, who also won this season's Premier League title, has booked a berth against James Wade in the next round which will be played on New Year's Day.
In the first match of the night Adrian Lewis eased past Austria's Mensur Suljovic in straight sets to secure his place in the quarter-finals.
Lewis, who will play either Dave Chisnall or Peter Wright in the next round, averaged 98.69 for the match and hit four 180s in an impressive performance.
Both players had struggled with their doubles early on in the game, but Lewis' quick throwing and high scoring punished Suljovic.
