Van Gerwen crushes Stephen Bunting as Anderson sees the exit door at the hands of Nathan Aspinall in the fourth round
Saturday 28 December 2019 11:43, UK
Michael van Gerwen remained on course to retain his World Darts Championship title while Gary Anderson's hopes of glory came to an end at the hands of Nathan Aspinall.
Van Gerwen was in bullish mood on the stage as he brushed aside the challenge of Stephen Bunting 4-0 to reach the last eight at Alexandra Palace. The Dutchman is now firm favourite to land his fourth world crown after victories in 2014, 2017 and 2019.
In the opening fourth-round fixture, ace arrowsmith Aspinall derailed Anderson's hopes, hitting 11 180s on his way to a stunning 4-2 win to reach the quarter-finals for the second consecutive year.
The Dutch ace crushed Bunting's hopes with a ruthless display as he swept into the next round with an average of 104.09.
Van Gerwen struck with a magnificent 11-dart leg to take the opener, averaging 100.92 and hitting three 180s en route.
The world No 1 raced away with all three legs in the second set to double his advantage over the 2014 Lakeside champion. He won eight legs out of nine to stretch his advantage to 3-0 over the 17th seed and move to within one set of a place in the next round.
Six perfect darts and an 11-darter handed Van Gerwen the lead in the fourth set before he clattered in a stunning 130 checkout in the third leg. He soon put an end to Bunting's misery by sealing the deal to complete a whitewash win.
"I think I played well in patches, not all over the game," Van Gerwen told Sky Sports. "I'm really happy with my performance tonight, it was better than my previous games. Stephen didn't play what he was capable of but I put him under pressure from the beginning."
Van Gerwen added that he was "surprised" by the exit of Anderson, saying: "Me and Gary have history and we've played so many games against each other, so of course I was looking forward to the potential battle in the semi-final. Nathan did really well and fair play to him, that's what darts does. You need to play at 100 per cent, otherwise they'll take you."
Steve Beaton or Darius Labanauskas awaits Van Gerwen on Sunday evening with a place in the semi-finals at stake.
Two-time former world champion, Anderson saw his hopes of landing the big prize for the first time in four years fall apart at the hands of an inspired Aspinall.
In a lightning-quick first set, Aspinall clawed his way back from 2-0 down in legs but 'The Flying Scotsman' took the decider on double 10 - averaging a not too shabby 109.9.
The 2015 and 2016 winner of this tournament was forced to mount his own mini-comeback in the next set, including a 128 checkout on the bull to break for 2-2. But a calamitous error, busting 20 with a D15 first dart, handed Aspinall an opportunity he was not going to turn down and he soon levelled the match.
Aspinall, who won his first major honour at this year's UK Open, pushed Anderson to another deciding leg in the third set and claimed it by taking out double four to move ahead for the first time. But in a fourth deciding leg of the match, fifth-seeded Anderson nailed tops to clinch it and level at 2-2 as we boiled up to a belter of a match at a rocking Alexandra Palace.
The Stockport thrower turned up the heat by regaining the lead in a fifth-set decider, while Anderson, who celebrated his 49th birthday on Sunday, squandered four darts at double to hand last year's semi-finalist Aspinall a chance to wrap up victory in the next set following a crucial early break.
He missed two match darts but Aspinall returned to sink double 10 and claim a career-defining victory.
"I've won the UK Open and in Vegas but I feel, on this stage, that was the biggest win of my career," said Aspinall, who averaged 97.9. "For me to beat Gary, I'm just so proud of myself. Last year the draw opened up for me but this year I've had a really tough run-in."
'The Asp' will be back on Sunday afternoon for a quarter-final showdown against Dimitri Van den Bergh or Adrian Lewis.
Check out daily Darts news on skysports.com/darts, our app for mobile devices and our Twitter account @skysportsdarts. Coverage of the World Darts Championship continues on Sky Sports Darts throughout the tournament with another double session on Saturday getting underway at 12.30pm and 7pm.
