Grand Slam of Darts - Day Seven, Report and Statistics

HANKEY OUT FOR THE COUNT AS WAITES & THORNTON PROGRESS TO SEMIS
SCOTT WAITES and Robert Thornton won through to the William Hill Grand Slam of Darts semi-finals with victories over Ted Hankey and Tony O'Shea at the Wolverhampton Civic Hall on Friday night.

2010 Grand Slam champion Waites remains on course to reach his third final in Wolverhampton after picking up his second win over Hankey in this year's event. The Lakeside Champion had won their Group H clash 5-3 last Saturday, and hit three ton-plus finishes as he picked up a 16-10 win in their quarter-final clash.
Hankey shared the game's opening four legs before Waites took out 104 to move 4-2 up with a break, only for the Telford ace to reply by hitting the bull to complete a 124 combination. Huddersfield-based Waites extended his lead to 7-4, and though Hankey took out 90 to reply, the Lakeside Champion finished a 13-darter and a 102 finish as he moved 10-5 up, before taking out a superb 146 checkout as he moved into a 12-6 advantage.
Hankey won three of the next four to pull back to 13-9, but Waites finished tops and double one to move to the brink of victory, and though double five kept the two-time World Champion in the mate, the former Grand Slam winner followed a 180 by taking out 96 to seal victory.

"It was a good game and good fun, but I'm glad to get it out of the way," said Waites. "It's difficult to get up on stage and play Ted, but I enjoyed the game and I think the crowd did too. Sometimes you get drawn into what Ted's doing rather than concentrating on your game, and I did tonight, but I also had a bit of a laugh with him as well and it worked for me. I wanted to try and get into a bit of a lead and I managed to do that. The 146 was nice and my finishing has been pretty good this week."
Waites now plays Thornton in Sunday afternoon's semi-finals, and said: "Robert played well tonight and beat Tony quite easily, and we've both been pretty consistent this week. We'll get on with our darts on Sunday and it will be a great game, and whoever takes their chances will win."

Scotland's Thornton won through to the semi-finals at the Wolves Civic for the first time with a comprehensive 16-6 win over Tony O'Shea, who missed 31 darts at doubles as he exited the event. Thornton punished misses from his opponent to win the first two legs before taking out 127 for a 3-0 lead, and though O'Shea finished 123 on the bull to reply, the former UK Open champion moved 6-1 up.
O'Shea, aided by two 180s, hit back to 8-4 at one stage, but Thornton hit an 11-darter in a run of four successive legs to create a six-leg cushion over his opponent. The Scot continued to punish the three-time Lakeside Champion for misses as he moved 15-5 up, and though O'Shea traded 180s with his opponent as he hit back on double eight, another maximum was not enough to keep the game alive as tops sealed Thornton's win.

"It's a very big win for me and I'm really happy with that," said Thornton. "Tony's been very consistent over the last week, but I wanted to keep my scoring up and hopefully get more chances than him. My scoring put pressure on his doubles, and I managed to take my chances. To win by a scoreline like that against Tony is great because he keeps coming back at you. I was a little bit patchy at times but I've been pretty consistent this week and you need to do that in an event like this. It would rank very highly for me if I can go on and win this now."

Hankey's run to the quarter-finals is the highlight of a year in which health problems have affected his form, but he said: "I didn't play as well as I could tonight and Scott was the better player. I've struggled a bit but I've enjoyed this week and hopefully I can keep pushing forward now and start fresh last year. I know I'm as good as anybody but I've got my health to sort out first."


Statistics
Ave180sDoublesPlayervPlayer Ave180sDoubles
95.30716/51Thornton 16:6O'Shea93:7996/37
92.55316/43Waites 16:10 Hankey84.96410/21








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