Reigning William Hill World Darts Champion Gary Anderson from Burnham-On-Sea is on track to retain his crown after reaching tonight’s world championship final.
Anderson easily beat semi-finalist Jelle Klaasen last night (Saturday) during a 6-0 win to set-up a showdown with Adrian Lewis in today’s final.
Gary Anderson completed a nine-dart finish in a masterful win over Klaasen in the semi-finals at at Alexandra Palace.
The Burnham star produced the first perfect leg of this year’s tournament during a superb individual display, ending with an average of 107.
During a storming start, Anderson quickly snapped up two legs before sealing the perfect leg, firing in back-to-back 180s and a fantastic 141 checkout to earn himself a £15,000 bonus.
Watching on, Klaasen grinned ruefully and applauded Anderson, but his sheepish smile turned into a grimace as his opponent continued to rack up legs at a relentless pace.
After collecting the second set with a composed 80 checkout, Anderson briefly threatened another nine-darter in the third, and would open up a 3-0 lead in the match with a superb 142 finish.
Klaasen desperately tried to apply the brakes in the fourth set and levelled at two legs each following checkouts of 84 and 81. But the Dutchman snatched at a dart for the set and was punished when Anderson picked out double 10. Not even 180s in consecutive legs could stall the Burnham player’s charge and he found double six for the fifth set, moving one away from victory.
A whitewash win was secured after Anderson finished off 48 and he will next face Lewis, who defeated him in the 2011 final.
The World Darts Championship final will be shown this evening – Sunday – with live coverage starting at 6.30pm on Sky Sports 1.
Gary booked his place in Saturday’s semi-final despite a sleepless night before his win over James Wade. The reigning champion admitted he had just two hours sleep before his 5-1 quarter-final victory on Friday afternoon after being woken up by noisy New Year celebrations.
“It was a quiet one,” Anderson said about his New Year celebrations. “But I was woken up about 12:10am by a few noisy ones. I got back to sleep again about 5:55am and was up again at eight so I had two hours sleep and was absolutely goosed.”
Gary was given a civic reception by Burnham and Highbridge’s Mayor last year following his triumph – see the link below.
Also see:
Celebration held for Burnham’s world darts champion Gary Anderson
