TAYLOR & BARNEY SET UP BERLIN BELTER AS RIVALS SHOW TOP FORM
Phil Taylor and Raymond van Barneveld will clash in the quarter-finals of the German Darts Championship on Sunday evening, while Simon Whitlock, Dave Chisnall and Wes Newton also remained in the hunt for the £15,000 European Tour title with brilliant third round victories in Berlin.
Taylor kicked off the action in the last 16 with a brilliant whitewash of Colin Lloyd at the Tempodrom, averaging 107.24 to move into the quarter-finals.
The world number one will now meet great rival Raymond van Barneveld in the first of three possible games on Sunday evening if he is to take victory in Berlin, with the Dutch ace seeing off Mark Webster 6-3.
Welshman Webster was level after six legs, but van Barneveld took the next three to book his last eight berth.
"Everything has to be right in your game when you play against Phil, but I'm excited," said van Barneveld. "I'm happy with how I scored and my doubles were okay against Mark, but I need to be better tonight."
In-form Dave Chisnall hit six 180s in a brilliant 6-5 win over Terry Jenkins, who came from 4-2 down to lead 5-4 in a thriller only to see the St Helens ace hit a 13-darter to win the deciding leg.
Chisnall now plays Mervyn King in the quarter-finals, following his victory in the all-Norfolk battle with World Youth Champion James Hubbard, who led 4-2 but could not stem a barrage as King took the game's final four legs.
Wes Newton impressed with a 6-1 win over Michael Mansell, averaging 103.44 in the process of setting up a clash with Justin Pipe, who won the inaugural European Tour event in Austria in April and was a 6-4 winner against Co Stompe.
"Wes is a great player and I know what I'll have to do to beat him," said Pipe. "I'll dig deep and hopefully I can beat him, and anything's possible tonight - in Austria my run was really hard too so there's nothing to say I can't go all the way again."
Simon Whitlock meets Kim Huybrechts in the other quarter-final, with the Australian in brilliant form as he hit five 180s and averaged 106.83 in his 6-2 win over Kevin Painter before the Belgian saw off Ronnie Baxter 6-4.
The champion of the 82,100 pound event will be crowned on Sunday night, with the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final taking place in one session at the Tempodrom in Berlin.