Top seeds will face Japan in the last eight, while Wales face Australia
Saturday 2 June 2018 22:06, UK
Gary Anderson and Peter Wright lost just a single leg between them as Scotland eased into the last eight at the World Cup of Darts with victory over Brazil.
The pair have made no secret of their determination to break the stranglehold of England and the Netherlands at the World Cup and once again they lived up to their billing as top seeds with a dominant victory.
After two days of first-round doubles matches, where the Scots dispatched USA 5-1, Saturday's second round saw the tournament switch to singles matches and a deciding pairs contest, if required, in a race to two points.
But there was no need for Anderson and Wright to team up as they romped through their rubbers in the final match of the afternoon session for a 2-0 victory.
'Snakebite' kicked off the contest against Diogo Portela, a repeat of their first-round meeting at the World Championship, and Portela took out the opening leg.
However, that was as good as it got for Brazil as Wright reeled off the next four legs, including a show-stopping 111 finish, to set Scotland on their way.
Anderson went one better, whitewashing Bruno Rangel, to seal a quarter-final meeting with Japan as the Scots aim to improve on their best-ever performance - a runners-up finish to England in 2015.
Japan were also comfortable winners, beating John Part's Canada thanks to a pair of victories in the singles matches.
Seigo Asada got the better of three-time world champion Part, who missed a match-dart before falling in a final-leg decider.
That piled the pressure on 22-year-old Dawson Murshell, who was unable to match his dancing skills with darting ones.
Having flossed his way onto the stage, the debutant struggled to find his range and the experienced Haruki Muramatsu, who was part of the Japan side to reach the quarter-finals in 2013, eased his way to a 4-0 win.
The other quarter-final on this side of the draw will see Wales up against Australia, both seeded nations forced to work hard before coming through their second-round matches in the deciding-doubles contest.
Wales, seeded fifth, were far from convincing as they rallied to beat Switzerland, who had Alexander Fehlmann to thank for taking things all the way.
Having struggled in the first-round doubles against China, Fehlmann was inspired, firing a couple of maximums on his way to a 4-3 win over Gerwyn Price.
'The Iceman' was far from his best but missed four match-darts along the way and was punished by Fehlmann, which left Jonny Clayton to keep Wales alive on his debut, and he did just that with a 4-0 victory Andreas Bless.
That took the opening match of the afternoon in Frankfurt all the way to the decider and while Switzerland had their chances, Wales managed to up their game enough for a 4-1 win and a place in the last eight.
The Welsh will need to improve on below-par displays against Thailand and Switzerland as fourth-seeds Australia are sure to provide a tougher test having seen off a dogged Spain.
Kyle Anderson was the inspiration for the Aussies, hitting a magnificent 170 finish to seal a 4-1 win over Toni Alcinas that levelled the contest after Cristo Reyes had punished a host of errors from Simon Whitlock to pinch the opening rubber in a final-leg shoot-out.
Those results brought all four players back out for the doubles and a topsy-turvy affair eventually went the way of Australia, who blew a 3-1 lead as Spain roared back to level at 3-3.
However, Whitlock finally found his range and took out a two-dart combination on 70 to seal a last-eight spot for the 2012 runners-up.
Our live action from Frankfurt continues on Saturday evening at 6pm on Sky Sports Action
Keep up to date with the latest darts news, previews, reports, reaction and expert analysis. Get all the latest at www.skysports.com/darts and join in the conversation @SkySportsDarts- don't forget to use #LoveTheDarts
