Coverage of both World Championship semi-finals underway on Sky Sports Darts from 7pm on Monday
Monday 30 December 2019 16:49, UK
Michael van Gerwen and Gerwyn Price remain on course for an eagerly anticipated final after booking their places in the last four on Sunday night.
Experts and fans have been queuing up to tip a meeting between the two best players in darts this year, and while their semi-final opponents still have plenty to say, MvG and the Iceman completed the last-four line-up with dominant wins.
Defending champion Van Gerwen, chasing a fourth title in seven years, continued his progress with a 5-2 victory over Lithuania's Darius Labanauskas to advance to a showdown with Nathan Aspinall.
And in Sunday's final match, Price kept his part of the bargain too; producing a blistering display to end three-time BDO world champion Glen Durrant's hopes of unifying darts' two world title. A 99.69 average was enough to win 5-1 and seal a semi-final showdown with Peter Wright who he hammered to win his second Grand Slam title in November.
Van Gerwen did enough to end the run of Labanauskas in his 50th career match at the World Championship.
The Lithuanian laid down an early challenge to the world No 1 by serving out the opening set on throw despite the mighty Dutchman nailing a magnificent 158 checkout in the fourth leg.
'Lucky D' whose career-best win came against Raymond van Barneveld in last year's tournament, continued his blistering start by moving 2-1 up in the second set, but he was unable to hit the bullseye to extend his lead. Van Gerwen stayed calm to sink double six to level before landing double 18 on throw to make it 1-1.
Normal service was resumed in set three when Van Gerwen took out 88 to hit the front but then in bizarre circumstances, Labanauskas cut his finger when attempting to retrieve a falling dart from the board. He required some running repairs on stage, although the whole situation seemed to affect his concentration. The Dutch ace completed a clean sweep to move ahead with a 103 average.
He was motoring by now and a magnificent 137 handed him the lead in the fourth set, while finishes of 84 and 72 put him 3-1 ahead. The winner here in 2014, 2017 and 2019, averaged a eye-watering 114.69 in the set.
Three costly misses darts at double from Van Gerwen gave Labanauskas the chance of pulling one set back and he duly obliged thanks to double 10.
Labanauskas then threatened to land a nine-darter with seven perfect darts but made a hash of his finishing and ended up losing the leg with MVG quickly restoring his two-set advantage.
And he completed the win in the seventh set after a lengthy 21-dart fifth leg to reach the last four for the seventh time in eight years.
Price had only won twice in his previous five visits to Alexandra Palace, never going beyond the third round, but he bounced back from a disjointed display against Simon Whitlock on Saturday to dispose of Duzza in ruthless fashion.
Price eased into a 2-0 lead with a blistering display on the outer circle, while Duzza's big finishes were required just to keep him in the contest.
With finishes of 105 and 126, the Welshman edged the opening stanza before rattling through the gears in the second.
He won three of the next four legs, only denied by a 146 from Durrant, to open up a two-set lead.
But Durrant is not a three-time world champion without reason. A fourth three-figure outshot helped him on his way to third set, staying in touch with the Iceman who had taken the opening leg of the set.
Price was not to be outdone, re-establishing his two-set lead in quickfire fashion. A 105 average saw him sweep into the ascendency. A missed dart for a 122 from the Iceman gave Duzza hope and the third leg, but the Iceman needed just 11-darts for a dominant hold of throw and a 3-1 lead in the contest.
Two became three with another powerful display, a set average of 102 was enough to see him bounce back from losing the opening to a typically clinical 90 from Durrant via the bullseye.
But 14 and 15-dart legs and then an ice-cool 96 from the Iceman saw him one set away from his date with Wright, a date he sealed with another powerful performance as Durrant wilted under Price's onslaught.
Check out daily Darts news on skysports.com/darts, our app for mobile devices and our Twitter account @skysportsdarts. Coverage of the World Darts Championship continues on Sky Sports Darts throughout the tournament with Monday's semi-finals kicking off at 7pm.
