Van Gerwen Finally Wins In Australia

Michael Van Gerwen
Following a brief return to the oche for the year’s remaining World Series events, players will now spend the rest of the month largely touring Germany. For the next three weeks, the European Tour Events 7, 8 and 9 will be taking prominence but with no live television broadcasting in the UK and limited participation from the star names, only bet365 are laying odds.

For the record, Michael Van Gerwen (1/1), Peter Wright (8/1), James Wade (11/1), and Dave Chisnall (16/1) are all in attendance – so let’s just say that MVG won as he probably will do, or did, depending on when you’re reading this.

Actually, Mighty Mike won last week in Perth, Australia; this was his first win in the country, having previously been defeated in two Sydney Darts Masters finals as well as the 2014 final in Perth. A dominant MVG dispatched Dave Chisnall 11-4 in the final of the TABtouch Perth Darts Masters at the PCEC on Saturday.

On his way to the final, MVG had also seen off Kyle Anderson in the first round before beating James Wade the next day. At the semi-final stage, he came face to face with Peter ‘Snakebite’ Wright, whom he swept aside 11-5 to bank his place in that evening’s final.

His rival in the final, Dave Chisnall, had also impressed on his way through the event, having grown in confidence from his opening round win Koha Kokiri. From there, he dumped out the reigning world champion Gary ‘The Flying Scotsman’ Anderson before moving onto Raymond van Barneveld, with the St Helens favourite emerging as the 11-8 winner, leading to his ill fated showdown with Van Gerwen later that day.

The world number one used the final to right the wrongs of the previous week’s defeat to Phil Taylor back in Sydney. Here, he stormed ahead early on, winning five successive legs, before Chisnall struck back and bought the match to 5-3.

The fightback was short-lived, however, as Van Gerwen claimed three in a row which included an 11-darter. Despite pulling a leg back, Chisnall was unable to hang on any longer leaving Van Gerwen to throw out for the title, his 14th tournament victory of 2016 and first ever on Australian soil.

Afterwards, Van Gerwen had this to say: “This is my first World Series win in Australia so it’s a great victory. Dave’s such a good player and you have to produce your best game but I went into the final with a lot of confidence because I had a fantastic record against him”.

As the sixth and final leg of this year’s World Series, Perth was the last event to count towards the World Series’ seedings for the World Series Finals which begin in Glasgow’s Braehead Arena this November 5.

In winning here, Van Gerwen leapfrogs Gary Anderson in the World Series rankings and will enter the finals as the number one seed and favourite with the bookmakers.

TABtouch Perth Darts Masters 2016 Results

First round, Thursday August 25

  • James Wade 6-0 Rob Szabo
  • Dave Chisnall 6-1 Koha Kokiri
  • Peter Wright 6-4 Adam Rowe
  • Adrian Lewis 6-3 David Platt
  • Phil Taylor 2-6 Corey Cadby
  • Gary Anderson 6-3 Kim Lewis
  • Michael van Gerwen 6-4 Kyle Anderson
  • Raymond van Barneveld 6-2 Simon Whitlock

Quarter-finals, Friday August 26

  • Adrian Lewis 8-10 Raymond van Barneveld
  • Michael van Gerwen 10-8 James Wade
  • Gary Anderson 7-10 Dave Chisnall
  • Corey Cadby 2-10 Peter Wright

Semi-finals, Saturday August 27

  • Dave Chisnall 11-8 Raymond van Barneveld
  • Michael van Gerwen 11-5 Peter Wright

Final, Saturday August 27

  • Michael van Gerwen 11-4 Dave Chisnall

The next live darts action will be on September 24 when the Champions League of Darts will begin in Cardiff, Wales.

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Phil Taylor Suffers First Round Shock In Perth, Opens Up The Field

taylor-cadby
The Perth Masters began yesterday with the mother of all shocks as 16-time world champion Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor suffered a first round defeat to Australian Corey Cadby. The sixth and final leg of this year’s World Series continues today and is the final event to count towards the World Series rankings table before the field and seedings are determined for the World Series Finals in Glasgow this November.

Only one week ago, Cadby had lost to Taylor; The Power was then on his way to winning the Sydney Masters. No such joy this week, however, as the 21-year-old Aussie exacted his revenge with an amazing 6-2 victory, despite Taylor’s decent 111 average. Having won at Perth for the last two years, Taylor’s form Down Under had been more than solid, having won his third straight Sydney Darts Masters title a week ago (which also made it 24 games unbeaten in Australia).

At the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre, Cadby broke his man with a decent 122 checkout before holding his nerve to seal the giant-killing win. For his efforts, Cadby, the only Ocenanic representative to make it through the first round, will meet Peter ‘Snakebite’ Wright following his 6-4 defeat of Adam Rowe.

The hugely surprising Taylor result opens the field for the remaining stars of the game, all of whom have progressed into the second round which begins at midday today with delayed coverage at 7pm on ITV4.

Elsewhere, Michael Van Gerwen beat Anderson (Aussie Kyle that is, not Gary) for the second time in a week, with a 6-4 victory. As for Gary, the Flying Scotsman bagged a 6-3 win over Kim Lewis, so plays again.

James Wade eased past Rob Szabo 6-0, while Raymond van Barneveld didn’t run to any problems in his match against Simon Whitlock, taking it down 6-2. Dave Chisnall was another first round winner, seeing off Koha Kokiri 6-1, while Adrian “Jackpot” Lewis was quick to defeat local boy David Platt 6-3.

The event finishes this weekend, with the quarter-finals played over the best of 19 legs, and the semi-finals and final played over a best of 21 leg format.

First Round Results

  • James Wade 6-0 Rob Szabo
  • Dave Chisnall 6-1 Koha Kokiri
  • Peter Wright 6-4 Adam Rowe
  • Adrian Lewis 6-3 David Platt
  • Phil Taylor 2-6 Corey Cadby
  • Gary Anderson 6-3 Kim Lewis
  • Michael van Gerwen 6-4 Kyle Anderson
  • Raymond van Barneveld 6-2 Simon Whitlock

After the opening round’s clearing, Friday’s quarter-finals has been left with a lot of interesting ties, even without the ever popular Phil Taylor. Notably, the first game of the day sees Adrian Lewis face off against former world number one Raymond Van Barneveld. Betway are offering 12/1 on ‘Jackpot’ to win the event, something well worth considering given some of his performances in 2016.

The same bookmaker have installed Gary Anderson as second favourite and are offering a best price of 9/2 on the Scotsman taking the tourney. He faces Englishman and 25/1 shot Dave Chisnall.

Corey Cadby’s reward for eliminating Taylor is a meet with Peter Wright and, although ranked 80/1 following his win, it is hard to see the young Aussie seeing off his second big hitter in 24 hours. Should Wright progress, it might be worth jumping on his 12/1 outright price at Betway right now, especially given his presence in the softer side of the draw, a result of Taylor’s absence.

Friday’s quarter-finals (best of 19 legs)

  • Adrian Lewis v Raymond van Barneveld
  • Michael van Gerwen v James Wade
  • Gary Anderson v Dave Chisnall
  • Corey Cadby v Peter Wright

Perth Darts Masters 2016 Tournament Schedule

Saturday August 27

Semi-Finals (12pm-3pm)

  • Anderson/Chisnall v Lewis/van Barneveld
  • van Gerwen/Wade v Cadby/Wright
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Sydney Masters: Taylor Looking For Third Straight Win In Sydney

Hooray! Tonight sees the return of live tournament darts as the Darts Masters series returns.

Tonight, Phil “The Power” Taylor begins his bid for a third successive Sydney Darts Masters win as he faces an opening test against DPA Qualifier, Melbourne-based bricklayer Clinton ‘Tic’ Bridge.

Following back-to-back wins in 2014 and 2015, reigning champion Taylor is familiar with what it takes to win Down Under, a place where he has been undefeated since the PDC introduced the World Series of Darts in 2013. In fact, there was an untelevised event in Perth last weekend where the winner was (you guessed it) The Power himself.

Tonight’s event, however, takes place at the Qantas Credit Union Arena in Sydney’s Darling Harbour where he plays an Aussie qualifier in the first round.

Elsewhere, Adrian Lewis faces off against Simon Whitlock in the heavyweight tie of the round, while Raymond Van Barneveld faces another qualifier from the continent in New Zealand’s Cody Harris.

World and Premier League champion Gary Anderson has been drawn against the final DPA qualifier Warren Parry, a player who remarkably sent Michael van Gerwen packing at last year’s tournament. Van Gerwen will hope to go better this year and gets to begin his run with a win against Australian World Cup star Paul Nicholson.

Last week’s runner-up in Perth, James Wade, meets the only DPNZ Qualifier Craig Caldwell, while Peter Wright (who made the final of the Japanese leg) steps out against PA Australian Grand Prix winner Loz Ryder. Stephen Bunting, who came second last year in Sydney, drew David Platt.

Despite being seeded first, Phil Taylor has been priced at a very generous 5/1 at bet365. Naturally, MVG goes into the tourney as favourite but, at 10/11, seems a pointless bet.

I am going to go for third seed, Scotland’s Gary Anderson at 4/1, purely because of the form he has shown intermittently this year. For those of you that like looking for the longer prices, Anderson’s countryman Peter “Snakebite” Wright at 16/1 and Englishman Adrian “Jackpot” Lewis look sound bets for this year’s Sydney Darts Masters.

After tonight’s first round, the tournament continues tomorrow with the quarter-finals before the semi-finals and final on Saturday.

First round draw

Phil Taylor (1) v Clinton Bridge

Stephen Bunting (8) v David Platt

James Wade (5) v Craig Caldwell

Peter Wright (4) v Loz Ryder

Michael van Gerwen (2) v Paul Nicholson

Raymond van Barneveld (7) v Cody Harris

Adrian Lewis (6) v Simon Whitlock

Gary Anderson (3) v Warren Parry

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