World Grand Prix - Report Semi-finals
VAN GERWEN AND KING SET TO CONTEST PARTYPOKER.COM WORLD GRAND PRIX FINAL
Michael van Gerwen and Mervyn King will contest the final of the PartyPoker.com World Grand Prix on Sunday night following superb semi-final performances to defeat Wes Newton and Brendan Dolan at the Citywest Hotel.
Dutch youngster van Gerwen won through to his first major PDC final with a 5-1 defeat of Newton in their last four contest, with the 23-year-old taking four sets without reply as he progressed to compete for the 100,000 pound first prize.
He replied to a 150 finish from Newton in the game's opening leg by landing a 136 checkout in taking the opening set 3-2, although the Fleetwood ace replied to win the second in the same manner, hitting key finishes of 90 and 96. Newton also posted a 152 checkout as he shared the third set's first four legs, but a 104 checkout from van Gerwen crucially swung the game his way as he took the set for a 2-1 lead. He won six of the next eight legs to take command of the match as Newton was unable to match his heavy scoring, and the 23-year-old won the sixth set 3-1 to triumph and move into the final.
"It feels amazing to be in the final," said van Gerwen. "It's beautiful that I've done so well in a tournament like this, because it's very difficult with the double start. "I'm very happy that I've played so well, and I think this was my best match in the tournament. My scoring was very good - I have a lot of confidence in my game and I did some damage at the right moments. "I thought I should have been 2-0 up in sets but Wes finished well. I kept calm though and did a job. "The crowd have been fantastic and I hope I can continue this because it's a big game tomorrow."
Van Gerwen has knocked out former World Grand Prix winner Colin Lloyd, World Champion Adrian Lewis and Andy Hamilton in his run to the final, and he admitted: "It feels great.
"Adrian Lewis, Wes Newton and Andy Hamilton are fantastic players and they're all in the top ten, and you need to throw well to beat them. I hope I can carry on and do some more damage. "I'm very happy about this and I hope I can give the crowd and the fans on TV a good game tomorrow."
King, meanwhile, ended Northern Ireland's Brendan Dolan's hopes of reaching the World Grand Prix final for a second successive year with a 5-2 victory in their clash.
Dolan, cheered on by a capacity crowd at Dublin's Citywest Hotel, took the game's opening two legs but saw King take command - and silence his opponent's supporters - by winning six of the next seven legs to assume a two-set advantage. Dolan hit a 170 finish to kick-start his challenge as he took the third without reply, but King came from a leg down to take the fourth 3-1 and then edged the fifth in a deciding leg to move 4-1 up in the game. The sixth set also went to a deciding leg, with King missing four match darts as Dolan took his second set of the contest, but the Norfolk thrower edged ahead in the next before finishing 108 and 132 in successive legs to complete the win.
"I'm delighted to have come through a very tough match," said King. "I missed out on the final a few years ago when I lost out to Raymond van Barneveld in the semi-finals - on that night I was playing just one player but today it was about 2,000 because of the great support Brendan gets. "They were obviously going to support Brendan but I managed to do a good job there. "My starting doubles began to desert me in the last couple of sets a little but but overall double 16 has been very strong for me. I work very hard at the game and never give up."
King joined van Gerwen in joining the PDC in 2007, and admitted that he is happy to see his fellow former World Masters winner in the final of a PDC major for the first time.
"I'm really pleased for Michael," added King. "He's a nice fella and a great player, and it's going to be a really hard game. "Obviously when we go on stage tomorrow I'll want him to lose and for me to win, but that's darts. "I've got to try and get away [with my first three darts], score big and hit 180s like I can do. If I can do that, then I stand every chance and I'm looking forward to it."
King has dropped out of the world's top 16 over the past two years, with the death of his father followed by the onset of chronic tennis elbow in his throwing arm, but the 46-year-old is delighted to be back to his best.
"It seemed at one time that it was just one thing after another, and I had to consider whether I would maybe have to jack it in because if it had carried on like it was I was going to slip out of the rankings," he revealed. "But when I got rid of the injury problems and got my head around my father's passing, it was all guns blazing and I've put a lot of hard work in on the practice board. "I've had a couple of little tweaks to my darts, maybe my throw is a little bit different after the injury problems I've had and the darts didn't feel quite right so I changed them a little bit. "I've gone up a gram in weight and use shorter points, and they seem to be working okay so I'm quite happy. "With reaching the final, it's put me definitely back into the top 16 and into the Grand Slam, so the hard work has really paid off."
Dolan had hit the historic first double-start nine-darter in his run to the World Grand Prix final last year, and this run followed his progression to the semi-finals of the European Championship last month.
"If I'd won the first set, it might have settled me down a little bit better but I ended up chasing the game throughout the match," he admitted. "I pushed him in the first set and probably switched off a little in the second and Mervyn bullied me from there on with his scoring. He man-managed the game very well and deserved to win. "I thought Mervyn played very well and there's no shame in losing that game because it was a pretty good match. I felt good about myself and certain things that I did during the game and I'm glad to have got to the semi-final. "I think coming back here and getting to the semi-finals proves that I wasn't a one-hit wonder last year and that I'm a half-decent dart player who can handle himself - and to make two major semi-finals in a row backs that up too. "I'm pleased with the way my game's going and I'm moving up the rankings, which is all I want to do. I want to keep improving, and if I keep improving every year then someday I'll make it to number one."
Newton's run to the last four had seen him come from behind to defeat both Ronnie Baxter and Paul Nicholson, but he had no complaints after losing out to van Gerwen.
"On reflection, the game was probably a lot closer than the scoreline suggests, but Michael was the better player and deserved to win," said Newton. "He played really well and I take my hat off to him. "I started off well and I've felt good all week. I've rode my luck in games and dug in and got the results, but my game hasn't clicked fully and this was probably my best performance of the week. "I kept believing, but Michael's a quick player and once he got the momentum he was hard to peg back. I kept trying to get back into the game, but he was hitting everything and played really well."
Newton had reached the final of the European Championship last month, and moves back above Simon Whitlock into fifth place in the PDC Order of Merit by taking £20,000 prize money.
"It's another good run for me in a major and I can take a lot of positives from it," said Newton. "It's all experience for me and I'm sure I'll go on and win one of these eventually."
Pictures with courtesy of Lawrence Lustig, PDC.