Taylor survives Tabern scrap

Taylor: Narrow escape

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Phil Taylor survived another almighty scare at the World Championship to win an epic third round encounter with Alan Tabern 4-3 to book his place in the quarter-finals.

Taylor has been taken all the way in both his previous matches, and 'The Saint' Tabern ensured that the 13-time world champion again had to dig deep as he was pushed to the limit once more.

'The Power' struggled with doubles all night and, after winning the opening set, was always trailing Tabern from then on.

After missing doubles in the second set, Tabern then cleaned up in the third set, taking it 3-0 to move 2-1 ahead in sets.

Tabern missed a chance to go 3-1 up and Taylor took the chance to level at 2-2, but again the man from St Helens Tabern cashed in on a Taylor mistake to move 3-2 in front.

Taylor was cruising to the sixth set before Tabern launched a brave fightback and the legend from Stoke was forced to use all his experience to hit a 171 and set up a double eight finish to send the match into a deciding set.

Pressure

Tabern refused to crumble despite the immense pressure, and he hit a body blow of a finish by taking out 160 to go 3-2 up and one leg from the match, with a deciding set needing to be won by two clear legs.

It went with the throw though until finally Taylor managed to muscle his way in front by winning a leg against the throw for the first time in 11 legs.

Throwing for the match, Taylor hit two 180s to set up the finish and Tabern had no response as the darting maestro took it 6-4 and the match 4-3.

"In that last set I told myself I had to hit the 180s otherwise Alan would stick the big scores in himself," Taylor told Sky Sports after the match.

"Even when I hit the first one he responded so I needed that second one.

"This is the hardest World Championship ever, over the years I've cruised through tournaments with 6-0 wins in the semis and 7-0 in the finals, but it's not like that anymore.

"These guys are on the road a lot and they face this pressure week in week out and they're not scared anymore.

"I feel like I'm getting better with each game, I'm not worried about how many sets I lose or what happened in the last game, each round I'm getting more confidence."

Taylor's next opponent will be Wayne 'Hawaii 501' Mardle after he overcame Roland Scholten 4-3 to book his place in the last eight.

The Essex player battled back from 3-2 down to win a final-set thriller against the Dutchman in Thursday's final match.

Mardle's victory sets up a rematch of the classic 2006 semi-final when Taylor triumphed in a final set.