World No 1 Gerwyn Price to play Jonny Clayton in final - watch live coverage of the World Grand Prix final on Saturday night, join us from 8.30pm on Sky Sports Main Event & Arena
Saturday 9 October 2021 07:07, UK
Gerwyn Price overcame a reported relapse of his elbow injury and a 2-0 deficit to beat Stephen Bunting and stay on course for a successful defence of his World Grand Prix title, with fellow Welshman Jonny Clayton waiting in Saturday's final.
A tournament that has been littered with shocks will have a final with two of darts' most in-form players after Clayton proved too good for Danny Noppert and Price prevailed in a compelling tussle with Stephen Bunting.
Price trailed The Bullet by two sets early on, and was two minutes late to the stage at the break - but despite suggestions of his elbow flaring up, the Iceman rallied to claim four sets on the bounce and a return to the final.
Michael van Gerwen, Gary Anderson and Peter Wright all fell on a monumental Monday in the East Midlands, but Price and Clayton can lay claim to being the best players on planet darts over the last 12 months.
The pair teamed up to win a first ever World Cup for Wales in November last year and since then have won the World Championship, the Masters, the Premier League, the World Series of Darts Finals, two European Tour titles and five Pro Tour titles.
On Saturday, they will go head-to-head for a major title and the £110,000 first prize.
Gerwyn Price extended his winning run at the World Grand Prix to nine games after a brilliant fightback that saw off former BDO world champion to set up a final with World Cup-winning teammate Jonny Clayton.
Bunting raced out of the traps with a brilliant 13-darter and then took full advantage of Price's struggles on the outer ring to get going and wrap up the first set with the minimum of fuss.
Having been given a hostile reception on route to the stage - 24 hours on from a similar atmosphere - the boos for the defending champion continued to emanate from the crowd - mostly when Price was trying to start or finish a leg.
The world champion looked to have flicked a switch in the second set, forging a 2-1 lead and celebrating with some trademark fist pumping, muscle flexing and roaring.
But Bunting was not to be deterred, 20 and 17 dart legs underlined just how out of sorts the Welshman was - that said Price missed a dart to level the match to give Bunting his two-set lead.
With the interval behind them, Price took an extended period to return to the oche - Wayne Mardle reporting from the commentary box via Tournament Director Graham Fairhurst that the Iceman has suffered a flare up in the elbow injury that saw him withdraw from the Nordic Darts Masters.
Bunting again moved into a 2-1 lead to stand within a leg of a third set, but Price - who had averaged 77 for the first two sets - was now averaging close to 100 and took out 56 and 74 finally got a set on the board.
In contrast to his earlier missed double on the outer ring, Price was pinning 50 per cent of his darts at double for the legs, and moving through the gears his combination finishing was proving decisive and the match was level.
With the first four sets split, the match was effectively a best of three set encounter. Bunting - maintaining a high standard himself - drew first blood to lead 1-0 and 2-1 but for a third set out of five a deciding leg was required and Price showed his champion pedigree.
A clinical 96 finish completed a 12-dart leg and took him into the lead for the first time and after the fourth was greeted with a sedate celebration, Price was back flexing his muscles to salute.
He was doing the same on the oche, adding three more maximums and some ruthless finishing to wrap up the win and remain in the hunt for a Grand Prix crown that would make him just the third man to retain the title.
Jonny Clayton maintained his brilliant finishing and fabulous form to reach a major ranking final for the second time in his career after a 4-1 win over Danny Noppert.
The Ferret averaged 95, took out two 100+ finishes and won the final six legs of the match to continue his brilliant form over the last 12 months and remain on course to add to The Masters and Premier League titles he has already won this year.
After losing the opening leg, Clayton cruised to the first set. An average of 98 was maintained courtesy of his brilliant finishing - a sky-high 60 per cent for the tournament - so it was no surprise when a classy 108 check-out gave him a third leg in succession and the lead.
Trailing for the first time in the tournament, Noppert was quick to show the form that had already seen him dispatch five-time Grand Prix champion Michael van Gerwen in the first round.
It was roles reversed as he pushed his average towards three-figures and claimed three of the next four legs to level the match.
Clayton recovered from taking six darts to start the third set, Noppert missing five at the end of the opening leg and it was Clayton's combination finishing that helped him take every chance that came his way. A two-dart 90 set him on the way and despite two missed darts for the set, the Dutchman couldn't punish him and the Ferret was back in front.
A brilliant contest hinged on the fourth set where Noppert forged a 2-0 lead and looked set to level things up but with the set there to be taken The Freeze couldn't muster the scoring power to get to a finish.
In contrast Clayton found some of his best form, back-to-back 14 and 13 dart legs took him from 2-1 down in the set, into a 3-1 overall lead and within one set of the finishing line.
There was enough time for Clayton, whose only other major ranking final was the 2017 Players Championship Finals - to underline his maverick tendencies, a superb 112 finish was followed by some trademark counting errors but Noppert was too far behind as the Welshman took his place in Saturday's showdown.
Watch live coverage of the World Grand Prix final on Saturday from 8.30pm - join us on Sky Sports Main Event and Arena for the thrilling conclusion to seven days of darting drama
