Vegas double for Taylor

Power takes opening two titles in Vegas darts festival

Last updated: 28th June 2010   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Vegas double for Taylor

Taylor: Vegas double

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Phil Taylor tasted double success on the first two days of the New Tropicana World Series of Darts Festival with victory in the World Cricket Championship and PDC US Open.

The opening event was played in the cricket format of darts, but Taylor still proved to be the best around as he beat Mark Walsh in the final.

World number one Taylor showed his class to take the World Cricket Championship title, only dropping four legs throughout Saturday's event and two of them coming in the final.

Hertfordshire ace Walsh dominated the opening two legs of the final to take a 2-0 lead, before Taylor edged a high-quality third and then levelled in a tight fourth leg.

The deciding leg saw Taylor take control of the 20 bed immediately, but Walsh hit back to close the 19, 18, 17 and 15 beds - only for Taylor to hit back and seal victory with two bullseyes.

Tough format

"I'm really happy to win this because it's a tough format," said Taylor. "The cricket format really makes you think and it's a great leveller.

"It was a very challenging day and Mark played really well in the final, so to come back from behind and win it is satisfying for me."

The Power then followed up by claiming the spoils in the PDC US Open on Sunday courtesy of a 6-2 win over Denis Ovens in the final.

The world number one overcame Kevin McDine, Paul Lim and Joe Cullen in the early rounds before overturning a 3-0 deficit against Nigel Heydon in the last 16.

A 6-2 victory over Walsh in the quarter-finals, repeating his triumph in Saturday's final, was then followed by a 6-1 win over world number three James Wade in the semi-finals.

Ovens' run saw him reach a fourth final of 2010 and comes only weeks after his semi-final appearance in the Rileys Darts Zones UK Open, as he added a further £3,000 to his ever-improving status on the PDC Order of Merit.

He had overcome Jelle Klaasen in the semi-finals, with Terry Jenkins, Steve Hine, Canada's Ken MacNeil, Japan's Shintaro Hirai and Dieter Schutsch his other victims.

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