England's Michael Smith and James Wade will take on defending champions Peter Wright and John Henderson, while Wales set up a meeting with host nation Germany; watch the climax of the World Cup of Darts live on Sky Sports Action from midday on Sunday
Sunday 19 June 2022 07:13, UK
England set up a mouth-watering quarter-final clash against the Auld Enemy Scotland at the World Cup of Darts while Wales survived an epic encounter against Austria in Frankfurt on Saturday.
For the first time in World Cup history, the quarter-final line-up features all eight seeded nations, setting up a blockbuster finale at the Eissporthalle on Sunday.
Michael Smith and James Wade, bidding to win England's first World Cup crown since 2016, were pushed to a doubles decider by Latvia's Madars Razma and Nauris Gleglu but they eventually came through unscathed to set up a meeting with reigning champions Scotland.
"I'm proud to wear the shirt and England are through to the next round, so that's all that matters," reflected Smith, who landed two maximums in the Pairs contest.
"Michael is the best player in the world at the moment, but I know I can match him, so it hurts when you don't perform," Wade added.
"I am gutted with how I played. I tried so hard, but I promise I will be better tomorrow."
Peter Wright and John Henderson defeated Jose De Sousa and Vitor Jeronimo of Portugal, but the match will be remembered for a moment of madness from 'The Special One' who bust a score of 181 by hitting a maximum in the opening leg of their deciding pairs match.
The Portuguese duo never recovered as Wright and Henderson capitalised to clinch a whitewash win.
Australian stars Simon Whitlock and Damon Heta, who came agonisingly close to landing the first doubles nine-darter in World Cup history during their first round win over Lithuania, defeated Swedish duo Daniel Larsson and Johan Engstrom to reach their third consecutive World Cup quarter-final.
The 2012 runners-up now play Belgium for a semi-final spot, after Dimitri Van den Bergh and Kim Huybrechts steered the fourth seeds to a convincing 2-0 victory over Poland.
"We did the job and that's all that matters," said Huybrechts, a World Cup runner-up in 2013. "It's going to be as tough for Australia as it is for us tomorrow. We'll give it our all, and the better team will win."
In the afternoon session, Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton survived a major scare before Wales edged out Austria's Mensur Suljovic and Rowby-John Rodriguez in a dramatic deciding-leg shoot-out.
Price converted magnificent 156, 149 and 142 finishes to sink Suljovic in a seven-leg thriller, but Rodriguez levelled the tie with an assured 4-2 win over Clayton.
Following six straight holds, Clayton followed up successive two-treble visits by pinning double six to dump out last year's runners-up.
"At the end of the day it's about winning," reflected Price, part of the 2020 title-winning pairing alongside Clayton.
"We all want to perform for the crowd but sometimes it's about grinding out the result. We were under a lot of pressure and didn't play our best game but we showed a lot of character."
Dutch duo Danny Noppert and Dirk van Duijvenbode sent out a statement to their title rivals with an imperious display in their second round win over 2019 finalists Republic of Ireland.
"I think we're a good pair," said Van Duijvenbode, a World Grand Prix finalist in 2020. "We're here to play well and you have to play well to beat us.
"We won't say we'll win it, but we'll look at it game by game. If we play well every game, hopefully we can lift that title."
Host nation Germany will play Wales in Sunday afternoon's quarter-finals, after seventh seeds Gabriel Clemens and Martin Schindler relinquished just two legs in their last 16 tie against Denmark.
Elsewhere, Northern Ireland will play Netherlands in the last eight, after Daryl Gurney and Brendan Dolan sealed a spot in their second consecutive World Cup quarter-final with a convincing win over New Zealand.
The £350,000 tournament concludes on Sunday, with the afternoon session's quarter-finals followed by the semi-finals and final in the evening session at the Eissporthalle.
Check out daily Darts news on skysports.com/darts, our app for mobile devices and our Twitter account @skysportsdarts. We're back for the climax of the World Cup of Darts on Sunday, June 19 - live on Sky Sports Action from midday.
