Smith shot out of the starting blocks and partly thanks to seven misses by Van Gerwen on a double bully boy a 0-5(!) lead. The English number ten on the PDC Order of Merit averaged over 107 and took five of his seven chances for a double.
In the third part of this quarterfinal the breaks followed each other in quick succession and Van Gerwen continued to struggle to take advantage of his chances for the double (6 out of 21). Smith was the first to stand and thus set the score at 6-9.
In part five there were again many opportunities for Van Gerwen, but again his doubles let him down. Smith got his first game dart at 12-15, but missed on double eight. Moments later, it was still hit on double ten. And so Smith defeated Van Gerwen for the first time in the knockout phase of a major, the five previous duels were all won by the three-time world champion.
,,I let him get into the game completely by missing my first doubles right away,” said Van Gerwen afterwards at RTL. ,,You follow that the entire game. I also get opportunities later, but I don’t take them. I hate that and that shouldn’t happen to me. I always trust Michael Smith because he usually lets things down. Tonight too, but I didn’t take advantage of it. I had chances to hurt him, but that did not me.”
Smith finished with an average of 98.7 points. He threw no fewer than fourteen times the highest score (180). Van Gerwen averaged 97.44, with a score of 180 five times.
Peter Wright – Fallon Sherrock
James Wade and Gerwyn Price already qualified for the semifinals on Friday evening. The world champion defeated Jonny Clayton in the Welsh Clash 16-12. Englishman Wade narrowly defeated compatriot Rob Cross: 16-14. Later tonight, Peter Wright and Fallon Sherrock will face each other. Sherrock became the first woman ever to qualify for the quarterfinals of the Grand Slam of Darts.
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