Germany beat Northern Ireland at the World Cup of Darts
England, Netherlands and Belgium in quarter-final line-up after bumper day in Frankfurt
Sunday 3 June 2018 08:33, UK
Hosts Germany came from behind to dump out sixth seeds Northern Ireland at the World Cup of Darts, while England, the Netherlands and Belgium also reached the last eight.
The new-look England pairing of Rob Cross and Dave Chisnall survived a huge scare against Singapore to come from behind and seal a place in the last eight, while Belgium and the defending champions Netherlands eased into the quarter-finals, losing just one leg between them across four singles matches.
The biggest story came in the penultimate game of the evening as Germany delighted the crowd in the Eissporthalle by winning a doubles decider against Northern Ireland, who became the second seeds to exit the competition after Austria's first-round departure.
Live World Cup of Darts
Belgium had kicked off the evening with a routine demolition of Finland and Netherlands did likewise in the final match of the evening, but the real drama was sandwiched in between as England held their nerve and Germany rose to the occasion.
England were up against a Singapore team that tend to come alive on the World Cup stage. Veteran Paul Lim is playing the darts of his life and, after beating Scotland and Belgium to reach the quarter-finals last year, they looked in the mood for more of the same.
World champion Cross, on his World Cup debut, did little wrong against 64-year-old Lim, the pair both averaging more than 100 throughout a high-quality contest.
Lim had put Singapore 2-0 in front before Voltage levelled, including a brilliant 12-dart leg to break. But Lim was not to be denied, taking advantage of Cross' missed doubles to give Singapore the lead and winning all four legs via double top.
It meant Chisnall had to win and a brilliant 142 check-out helped him to a 4-2 victory over Harith Lim.
It sent the match to a deciding doubles contest, which England eventually edged to set up a clash with Belgium as Singapore faltered.
Kim Huybrechts and Dimitri Van den Bergh have dovetailed brilliantly, with the pair coming from behind to beat the Republic of Ireland in a first-round thriller.
Captain Huybrechts whitewashed Marko Kantele and, while Kim Viljanen got Finland on the board, it served to inspire Van den Bergh as he produced more brilliant darts to average 100 on his way to a 4-1 victory.
The Netherlands' dream pairing of Michael van Gerwen and Raymond van Barneveld went one better than the Belgians.
Van Gerwen pummelled Liam O'Brien in the opening rubber, while Barney was given little trouble by Devon Peterson as the duo stormed to a pair of 4-0 wins in their victory over South Africa.
The Dutch, champions last year, are yet to drop a leg after a 4-0 first-round win over Gibraltar that took just 10 minutes and have had just two darts thrown at a double against them.
A quarter-final with hosts Germany, roared on by the Frankfurt crowd, may prove to be a tougher assignment for the Netherlands.
Germany opted to send Martin Schindler out first against Northern Ireland, banking on Max Hopp to beat Brendan Dolan in the second rubber and then take their chances in the doubles.
Schindler missed seven darts at double on his way to a 4-0 reverse at the hands of world No 5 Daryl Gurney and when Dolan took the opener against Hopp, the venue fell silent.
But Hopp found his scoring power to surge into a 3-1 lead and take Germany to the brink. However, Der Maximiser missed three match darts for a 4-1 win and Dolan punished him to level at 3-3 before missing a dart for a quarter-final place himself.
Hopp composed himself to take the match into a doubles decider and a repeat of the first-round meeting between the teams last year that Germany won.
Saturday's contest lacked the edge and bristle of 2017 but, with nerves playing a huge part, Germany edged into a 2-0 lead, before Gurney's experience looked to have got Northern Ireland into the ascendancy.
A brilliant 112 finish from Superchin broke throw and levelled the match, but the youthful Germans kept their composure and found the doubles when they needed to.
Hopp took out a brilliant 100 finish with a clinical dart at double top to seal a 4-2 triumph and a date with the defending champions.
Our live action from Frankfurt continues on Sunday with another bumper day of two sessions - the quarter-finals get underway on Sky Sports Arena from 12pm with the semi-finals and final also on Arena from 6pm
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
