More magic from Taylor

Taylor: Bang in form

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Phil Taylor maintained his sparkling form but was pushed all the way by Adrian Lewis when winning 8-7 in the UK Open North West Regional Final in Wigan.

'The Power' has fallen back into his old groove and has been throwing his best tungsten in recent weeks, especially in the Premier League where he has stormed back into contention after a dodgy start.

Taylor made the final of the last UK Open Regional Final but went one better than his defeat to Colin Lloyd by edging out Stoke rival Lewis in a fine final in Wigan on Sunday.

13-time champion Taylor came from 2-0 down to lead 6-3 against Lewis with 11 and 12-dart legs - including seven perfect darts but just missing out on the nine-darter.

Taylor missed a shot for the match at 7-5 and Lewis continued to battle back to force a decider, but Taylor hit right back and two 180s did the damage as he went on to take the title 8-7.

Enjoyment

"I really enjoyed that," said Taylor.

"It was a great final and I'm very pleased because Adrian came back well at me.

"I'm practising hard and that's helping my performances. I'm looking forward to the next event now."

Taylor produced more magic arrows to average over 110 in a 7-0 whitewash of Colin Osborne is the semis, while he saw off Kevin McDine in the quarters and just edged Chris mason 5-4 in the last 16.

Lloyd was one of Lewis' victims as he failed to make it three consecutive victories, before 'Jackpot' ended Chris Thompson's fine run in the semi-finals by coming from two legs down to win 7-2.

Yorkshireman Thompson enjoyed a brilliant Sunday as he defeated world number three James Wade and Saturday's Players Championship winner Alan Tabern en route to the final four.