Saturday 3 January 2015 12:44, UK
Phil Taylor let a two-set lead slip against Vincent van der Voort but still made it through to the World Championship semi-finals with a 5-3 win.
‘The Power’ charged into a 2-0 lead at Alexandra Palace but the Dutchman would not wilt, winning the next three sets in response.
But the turning point came when Van der Voort failed to go 4-2 up. With Taylor 3-2 down, the 16-time champion inexplicably missed eight darts at a double to take the set but Van der Voort failed to punish him and the ninth dart finally found the target.
From there, Taylor did not look back and although he was not at his best his confidence had returned and he reeled off the next two sets to book a last-four meeting with old rival Raymond van Barneveld.
Van Barneveld beat Stephen Bunting 5-4 later in the evening to set up a rematch of the 2013 semi-final, which ended in an aggressive confrontation between Taylor and 'Barney'.
“It was survival there, it really was. He played well tonight Vincent did, but that’s how he plays, people haven’t seen the best of him yet," Taylor said.
“I’m shattered, I tried my hardest and that match has taken it all out of me. Vincent’s back had gone, he was hobbling he was in agony, he was in trouble and yet he still went up there and hit his scores, hit his 180s and did what he had to do.
“I wanted the game to go on because he was in agony, trust me, I felt sorry for him for I wanted to make that semi-final and knew I just had to keep battling to make it through.”
In the opening set there were no early signs of danger as Taylor hit a pair of quick maximums – he had only hit nine in the whole tournament previously – to take the first set. Averaging nearly 104, the 54-year-old doubled his lead but left the oche shaking his lead and implying that the scoreline did not reflect his performance.
Van der Voort rallied back to win the third set, averaging over 100 and breaking Taylor’s throw to assert some oche authority at a pivotal stage. Hitting a maximum for good measure, Van der Voort then levelled the match and let out a celebratory fist pump as tensions escalated at Ally Pally.
And the momentum shifted further in the fourth set as the Dutchman registered a 113 checkout, the highest of the match, before immediately following that with a 107 finish to leave Taylor bewildered.
Van der Voort won the first leg of the following set but an 82 checkout followed by a noticeable sigh of relief seemed to steady Taylor’s throw. Yet another three-figure finish from the in-form Dutchman left Taylor shaking his head from the back of the stage again as Van der Voort turned the two-set deficit into a 3-2 lead.
Top-quality tungsten was thrown all evening at the Palace – Taylor was averaging over 100 while trailing – particularly illustrated in the fifth set, which Van der Voort wrapped up with a 10-darter.
The sixth set came down to a deciding leg, in which Taylor missed a pair of straightforward checkouts which audibly shocked Ally Pally. Taylor totalled eight unsuccessful attempts at finishing the sixth set with a double.
Van der Voort remarkably let him off the hook and Taylor, having eventually checked out, had the look of a man who knew Lady Luck was on his side. He had needed 21 darts to win the final leg of the set.
After a break, Taylor returned cooler and Van der Voort seemingly had the wind knocked out of him – ‘The Power’ needed a single shot to hit double 16 and win the fourth set and wrapped up the fifth without any fuss.
