Mark Walsh reached the last 16 of the PDC World Darts Championship with a dramatic 4-3 victory over Alan Tabern.
Jenkins blitzes Brown as van der Voort proves too strong for Jones
Mark Walsh reached the last 16 of the PDC World Darts Championship with a dramatic 4-3 victory over Alan Tabern at Alexandra Palace.
Tabern led 2-0 and 3-2 only for Walsh to level on both occasions, although he will only have himself to blame for losing the match 6-4 in the final set after missing six darts for the win.
Walsh had his chances to go 1-0 up early on, missing double five for a 130 checkout that would have closed it out and then hit back-to-back maximums in the deciding leg, only for Tabern to nail 160 to take the lead.
The St Helens southpaw cruised to a 3-0 win in the second set, and then opened the third with a 13-darter, only for Walsh to finally stop the rot in the next.
He then hit tops for a second successive leg to move ahead and closed out the set with a 103 finish after his opponent had missed one dart at a double.
Tabern opened the fourth with a two-dart 64 finish but Walsh levelled with the aid of a 180 and then moved ahead when Tabern missed two shots at doubles, Walsh finishing at the first time of asking.
Quality
The fourth leg followed a similar pattern as Walsh squared the match but Tabern moved back in front in a quality fifth set, nailing finishes of 135 and 104.
Walsh hit a timely 180 followed by a two-dart 61 finish to take the match into a deciding set, where Tabern was the first to break throw in the third leg with a 15-dart finish.
However, he then fluffed tops and three shots at 10s for the match to allow Walsh a window of opportunity, which he took to nail double top.
Walsh then held to win the fifth as the match went to a tie-break but Tabern not only levelled but broke the throw in the seventh leg to take a shock lead.
But yet again he was unable to close out the show, a dart at bull missing to allow Walsh to hit double 12 for a 14-darter. He then nailed double five for a 5-4 lead and held his nerve well to checkout 102 and take the match.
Dutchman
Vincent van der Voort also booked his place in the third round with a 4-2 victory over Wayne Jones.
Van der Voort was never headed and had it sewn up after winning six out of seven legs to take a 3-1 lead. He broke in the fourth leg on the way to taking the opening set but it was Jones' turn in the next as he took the set 3-1.
Levelled
Van der Voort, however, turned on the style in the third set; hitting tops to lead before capitalising on Jones' four misses at doubles to break the throw.
A 148 checkout helped give van der Voort a 3-1 advantage but missed doubles in the next set allowed Jones to reduce the deficit with three legs in succession.
In the end the Dutchman triumphed - he levelled matters at 2-2 in the fourth set with double four and then stylishly checked out 116 to end the contest.
The final afternoon contest on Tuesday saw
Terry Jenkins record a convincing 4-1 result against Steve Brown.
'The Bull' won the opening eight legs on the spin, including a 117 checkout in the seventh, to seize control of the match against an opponent who had knocked him out in the first round of this year's World Matchplay.
To his credit Brown tried to fight back from such a shocking start, hitting double top to win the third set after his rival had narrowly missed taking out 164.
However Jenkins took the next three legs on the spin to go 3-1 ahead before booking a showdown with Walsh in the next round by taking out 80 in the deciding leg in the fifth set.
