Phil Taylor in knockout stages of the Grand Slam of Darts despite whitewash loss

Phil Taylor limped into the knockout stages of the Grand Slam of Darts after a 5-0 whitewash defeat to Darren Webster.

The 16-time world champion had already qualified for the knockout stages, but will need to raise his game after his wasteful finishing was punished by Webster at the Civic Hall in Wolverhampton.

Michael van Gerwen had no such problems as he continued his dominant form with a 5-1 thrashing of Max Hopp, while Gary Anderson was too good for Alan Norris in a 5-2 win, but BDO crowd favourite Martin 'Wolfie' Adams was eliminated after a 5-3 defeat to Brendan Dolan.

Taylor had described his form as 'rubbish', despite winning his previous matches comfortably at the tournament, and he struggled with his checkouts from the start.

Few would have expected such a one-sided defeat against Webster, who could not qualify after two losses, but the Norwich man moved 4-0 up after hitting double 20 for the second successive leg.

Live Grand Slam of Darts

'The Power' was unable to spare himself from a painful loss as he missed his seventh dart at a double and Webster pinned double four for the match.

Van Gerwen's ruthless win over Hopp set up a decisive showdown between Dolan and Adams for the second qualifying place in Group A.

Even Hopp himself could have advanced, but Dolan held his nerve to complete the result he needed to reach the next stage.

The BDO's No 1 player Glen Durrant also pulled off a 5-0 whitewash win over Nathan Derry as he marched into the last-16.

He was joined by fellow BDO player Daryl Fitton, who sealed a tense 5-4 win over Ian 'Diamond' White in the closing match of the night.

But former Lakeside champion Scott Mitchell departed following a 5-3 defeat to Chris Dobey.