Wizard falls to Waites magic

Waites: semi-final spot

Scott was just too good in the end, he was brilliant.

Simon Whitlock
Quotes of the week

Saturday afternoon results:
S Waites 16-13 S Whitlock
T Jenkins 16-9 R Thornton

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Scott Waites reached the semi-final of the PartyPoker.com Grand Slam of Darts with a 16-13 victory over Simon Whitlock on Saturday afternoon.

The opening 10 legs were shared before Waites reeled off four in a row to move into a 9-5 lead.

Whitlock, nicknamed 'The Wizard', responded to reduce his deficit to 9-8 but Waites put together another run of four straight legs to regain control at 13-8 ahead.

And the Yorkshireman, who was beaten by Whitlock in the group stage earlier in the week, was able to close out the victory in the 29th leg.

"It was a big struggle all the way through but I'm delighted to have won." said Waites, who averaged 96.72 and hit nine 180s.

"After about the 10th or 11th leg I got a couple of legs against the darts and got the lead, but Simon never gave in and was always on my tail."

Australian Whitlock paid triubute to Waites' performance, saying: "Scott was just too good in the end, he was brilliant.

"I missed a few doubles that I'd been hitting earlier in the week and Scott took his chances, especially when I feel asleep a bit in the middle.

"I hung in there and got it close but could never quite get back level with him."

'Bull' on the charge

Waites will play Terry Jenkins in the last four after Jenkins prevailed 16-9 against Robert Thornton.

Jenkins, last year's beaten finalist, started with a 12 darter on the way to racing into a 6-1 lead.

Although Thornton improved thereafter, he was unable to get close to Jenkins, who continued his consistent form on the way to sealing a comfortable success.

"I've been impressed with the way Robert's played this week, and I had to play well to beat him," said Jenkins. "I got a good start and it paid off."