Sunday 4 January 2015 10:59, UK
Phil Taylor is just one match away from winning his 17th World Championship title after beating Raymond van Barneveld 6-2 in the semi-final at Alexandra Palace.
The ‘Power’ will meet Gary Anderson in Sunday’s final after the Scot beat Michael van Gerwen 6-3 earlier in the evening.
The second semi-final failed to live up to expectations as an average of 102.39 was enough for Taylor to breeze past the Dutchman, who had the game at 2-2 early on but Taylor stepped up the pace winning the last four sets in dominant fashion.
It was a topsy-turvy first leg, one where van Barneveld outscored Taylor but still found himself on the end of a 3-2 leg defeat despite having the darts. The 16-time champion wrapped up the set with a classy 121 checkout – his first 100+ checkout of this year’s tournament.
Taylor threatened to raise the roof in north London by firing in seven perfect darts at the start of the second set but the crowd had to settle for just an 11-darter as he missed the key treble 19. He was streets ahead of the Dutchman from that moment on in the set and cruised into a two set lead.
However, Taylor dropped his average in the next set and van Barneveld took full advantage, whitewashing the 16-time champion 3-0.
Things kept getting better for the Dutchman as Taylor struggled to deal with Barney’s relentless peppering of the treble 20 bed. Van Barneveld took his time on double 16 but wrapped up the set with Taylor not even on a finish.
The fifth set lacked quality but not drama as every leg went against the darts with both players struggling to find any consistency in their game. It was Taylor that came out on top to regain the lead at 3-2.
The pressure continued to turn up by Barney in the next set as Taylor started to put his foot down on the accelerator, taking his average past the 100 mark for the first time in the match with a series of 180’s that brought the crowd to their feet.
Van Barneveld was visibly waning with every dart thrown as Taylor crucially broke the throw in the seventh set with a roof raising 124 checkout to go 5-2 in front. From that moment on, it was a case of when not if in terms of Taylor’s place in the final.
He kept up his relentless scoring in the final set, winning the match on double top to reach his 20th World Championship final.
