Gary Anderson produced the best display of the tournament so far as he stormed into the quarter-finals with a 4-0 win over Andy Smith.
Anderson tops tournament averages to make quarter-finals
Gary Anderson produced the best performance of the Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship so far as he stormed impressively into the quarter-finals with a 4-0 win over Andy Smith at Alexandra Palace.
Terry Jenkins was also in great form as he disposed of Mark Walsh 4-0 to make the last eight for just the second time in his career, while Adrian Lewis was a third comprehensive winner on Thursday afternoon as he beat Robert Thornton 4-1.
Flying Scotsman Anderson has been in great form so far in the tournament, but he reached a new level as he recorded an average of 108.39 against the Pieman Smith to storm into the last eight.
Anderson now has the three highest averages in the tournament from his three matches, as he set-up a tie with either Raymond van Barneveld or Colin Osborne in the quarter-finals.
Smith played some decent darts himself, but had no answer to Anderson's ten 180s, 43 percent checkout rate and continues legs of 11, 12 and 13 darts in the match that lasted just 16 legs in all.
Maximums
"I enjoyed it, Andy played well, every time I hit 180s Andy seemed to follow up with 180s as well," said Anderson. "I've always wanted to play good darts on the telly and I'm getting there now.
"My scoring is helping me and I'm hitting some good finishes so who knows, I'll just keep playing and see what happens. To win this trophy I'd want to beat Phil (Taylor) in the final, if you want to win the world title you want to beat the man to do it."
Adrian Lewis also averaged over 100 (101.05) in his encouraging win over Scotsman Robert Thornton, with the Stoke thrower hitting a 167 outshout and nine 180s during his 4-1 success.
'Jackpot' Lewis took the first six legs to move 2-0 ahead in sets before Thornton finally got on the board and went on to take the third set, but it was only a reprieve as he could not keep up with the pace set by Lewis.
Lewis will now face either last year's runner-up Simon Whitlock or quick-fire Dutchman Vincent van der Voort in his fourth World Championship quarter-final.
Afternoon delight
"I've never usually performed in afternoon matches so I'm really pleased with what I managed to do today," said Lewis. "I've got much more belief in myself now and I am more consistent that I was when I reached the first quarter-final back in 2006."
A third comfortable victory of the afternoon came in the final match with Terry Jenkins booking his second trip to the quarter-finals with a 4-0 win over an out-of-sorts Mark Walsh.
Seven-time major finalist Jenkins has never really performed at the World Championship, but has dedicated himself more than ever before this year in the hope of improving his chances of winning a first major title.
"I'm happy with my game, I'm getting better as the tournament goes on," said Jenkins, who averaged 99 and hit seven 180s.
"I said before I'm feeling better than the first two games, I just wanted to get through those tough first two games and now I feel comfortable.
"I didn't really get myself prepared properly over the last couple of years. I didn't like the tournament because it was held over Christmas and I wasn't able to practice properly with the other things I had to do. But I said this year to the missus we're not doing anything else, and I have put in some hard practice over the last couple of months."
