Betfred World Matchplay Darts, Day Six - Durrant meets Smith in semi-final after thrashing Wade

Glen Durrant adds the scalp of James Wade to his CV on his Blackpool debut to reach the semi-final where he will face Michael Smith.

(5) Michael Smith 16-11 Mervyn King
Michael Smith beat an in form Mervyn King to reach the semi-finals in Blackpool for the first time.
53-year-old King has already knocked out UK Open champion Nathan Aspinall in round one and defending champion Gary Anderson in round two, but there was no such upset against the Bully Boy.
The St Helens thrower checked out 137 in the opening leg as he raced into a 4-1 lead, averaging 110 and missing only one dart at a double.
King cut the deficit from 5-1 to 5-4 after getting on the board with a 140 checkout himself, before Smith increased his lead in the 10th leg.
But the former world youth champion's average dropped to well below 100, but he took a 7-4 lead before the Norfolk thrower won four legs on the spin, all in 16 darts or fewer with clinical finishes of 92, 74 and 86.
But Smith dug in and hit an 11-darter and then backed it up with a 12-dart leg with a 92 checkout for a 10-8 lead.
The next two legs were shared before Smith went out in 15 darts to lead 12-10.
A comical leg followed in which a combined 22 darts were missed at double, before King checked out on the madhouse after 13 missed attempts alone.
Smith reeled off the next four which included an 11-darter and won the match on a 114 finish.
He averaged 96.41 to King's 88.28, hitting six maximums and 15 out of 42 darts at double, while his opponent missed 28 in all.

Photo from sportinglife.com

Glen Durrant 16-7 (8) James Wade
Glen Durrant's impressive Winter Gardens debut continued with a 16-7 thumping of 2007 champion James Wade.
The Machine was the last former winner still left in this year's competition, but his exit means that there will be a new name on the Phil Taylor Trophy.
Three-time Lakeside world champion Durrant has knocked out three of the best players in the history of the PDC en route to the semi-final, having seen off two-time world champion Adrian Lewis in round one, three-time and defending world champion Michael van Gerwen in round two and now nine-time major winner James Wade to book his place in the last four.
The Teesside thrower trailed 4-3 to the Aldershot man, before taking 13 of the next 16 legs to march on to the next round, winning the match in some style with a 137 checkout consisting of treble 19 and then two double tops.
Durrant also hit checkouts of 107 and 100, while Wade managed two in his opening blitz in the first seven legs.
Durrant averaged 92.84 compared to Wade's poor 85.68 while he hit one more maximum with four and hit 16 of his 40 attempts at doubles as his opponent missed seven of just 20.

Friday Order of Play
(2) Rob Cross (ENG) v Stephen Bunting (ENG)
(6) Peter Wright (SCO) v (3) Daryl Gurney (NIR)

Draw
Glen Durrant (ENG) 16-7 (8) James Wade (ENG)
(5) Michael Smith (ENG) 16-11 Mervyn King (ENG)
=
Glen Durrant (ENG) v (5) Michael Smith (ENG)

(2) Rob Cross (ENG) v Stephen Bunting (ENG)
(6) Peter Wright (SCO) v (3) Daryl Gurney (NIR)
=
v

Day One Results and Report

Day Two Results and Report
Day Three Results and Report

Day Four Results and Report
Day Five Results and Report

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