Clayton and Price fly Welsh flag on day five of BoyleSports World Grand Prix
Jonny Clayton and Gerwyn Price both came through their BoyleSports World Grand Prix quarter finals on day five of the event in Leicester, raising prospects of an all Welsh final.
Clayton fought back to beat Krzysztof Ratajski 3-2 in a tight and tense game, where both players gave it their all.
World number one Price had a much more comfortable evening, as he defeated Dave Chisnall in straight sets to book his place in the last four.
Clayton will play Danny Noppert in the first semi final. The Dutchman continued his good from by beating Ian White 3-1.
Price faces Stephen Bunting in a rematch of the 2020/21 World Darts Championship semi final. Bunting fought back to defeat Ryan Searle 3-1 in the final last eight game.
Clayton swoops in to deny Polish Eagle
Premier League Champion Clayton came from behind to beat Ratajski 3-2 in a tight and tense match.
Clayton broke in the opening leg of the match, before Ratajski answered with a 67 shot to level at 1-1. The Ferret then punished The Polish Eagle for missing three darts to win the third, hitting tops to break again, before holding in 17 darts to take the first set.
Both broke each other’s throw twice during the second set, including a 150 outshot for Clayton and a 113 for Ratajski. It set up a deciding leg, where Clayton busted 134. It allowed Ratajski to set up double 10 the next visit, which he took to level the match.
Two holds each from the pair meant that for the third set in a row, a deciding leg would settle it. Ratajski missed the bullseye for a 170 outshot, but cleaned up 25 the following visit to go ahead for the first time in the match.
The Ferret though would not go down quietly. After holding in the first leg, a 13 dart break of throw secured him a 2-0 lead in the fourth. 15 darts later, the match was level, as the Premier League champion hit double ten to send the match to a decider.
Clayton found the perfect start to the fifth, finding double 16 with his last dart in hand to break in the opening leg. However, he then missed tops for a 102, allowing Ratajski a poke at 68, which he hit to level.
Ratajski then missed two darts to go within one of the match, and Clayton punished, taking out 69 on double six. Throwing for the semi finals, he cruised to a 16 dart finish, as Ratajski took seven darts to get into the leg.
Price powers past Chizzy
After losing to Chisnall at the 2019 event, and surviving match darts against him last year, The Iceman took advantage of poor doubling from Chizzy to complete a straight sets victory. Chisnall finished
Price started the better, breaking in the opening leg on tops. Both missed darts to win the next two legs, but a double 10, followed by another tops outshot, gave The Iceman the lead after a scrappy opening set.
The Iceman started the second set with an 80 outshot, hitting the single 5 instead of 20, but finding a 25 and a bull to hold. Once again, both missed multiple darts to win the second leg, but after Chisnall missed six to finally get on the board, Price found double 10 to go within one of a two set lead.
Chizzy found a 118 to break back, and took advantage of three missed darts for the set for Price to force a decider. He left 24 after 12, but a huge 104 outshot from The Iceman saw him let out a huge roar and go two sets in front.
It felt that the previous two sets had sucked the life out of Chizzy, and the world number one completed the job. Both held to start the set, before the World Champion took a 100 shot out to break. He finished the match off with a 17 dart hold on double two, to move a step closer to defending his title.
Bunting goes behind but beats Searle
The Bullet went behind, but like many before him this week, fought back, this time to deny Heavy Metal a first PDC TV semi final in another edgy contest.
Searle struck a blow in the opening leg, breaking on 87 after Bunting had missed tops to hold. The former BDO World Champion could have answered immediately, but missed three darts to do so, allowing Searle to hold in 21 darts. More missed darts from Bunting cost him, as he could have levelled the first set again in the fourth. However, Heavy Metal found double six to go one set in front.
Bunting broke in the opening leg of the second set, hitting double four after Searle missed six to hold. Both held, before a 16 dart hold saw The Bullet level up the match, hitting double 12.
The third set saw both miss plenty of darts to win legs, but the key moment came in leg four. After winning the first two legs, and after Bunting had taken seven darts to get into the leg, Searle left tops to go 2-1 in front. However, he squandered all of them, and The Bullet, who’d hit a 104 the previous leg, found double eight for a 24 dart break to level the set. An 82 shot the next leg saw him complete the turnaround, going in front for the first time in the match.
Both held twice in the fourth set, to force a deciding leg. In it, Bunting missed four match darts, while Searle squandered three to keep the match alive. In the end though, The Bullet found double 10 to fall over the line, and make the last four at this event for the first time since 2014.
No problems for Noppie once again
Noppert defeated White 3-1 in the first match of the evening to make the semi finals of the BoyleSports World Grand Prix for the first time in his career.
Noppie held in the opening leg, before White missed six darts to level in the second. The Dutchman took out double six to earn a break, before a 14 dart hold saw him whitewash the first set.
Diamond looked like he’d whitewash the second set, going 2-0 in front with an 80 outshot after holding in the first leg. However, he missed tops to do so, allowing Noppie to immediately break back on double 20. He then held to force a deciding leg, but White comfortably held in 12 to level the match at 1-1, as Noppert conceded his first set of the tournament.
Both held twice to set up a deciding leg in the third set. White, after hitting a 104 to hold the leg before, took five darts to get into the decider. It ultimately cost him, as Noppert cruised to a 14 dart hold to take a 2-1 lead.
Noppie then found an outstanding 116 to break the Diamond throw at the start of the fourth set. However, White responded immediately, hitting a 60 outshot to break straight back.
Both players then missed multiple darts for the third leg, but Noppert eventually found double four to go within one of the match. With Diamond on 68, Noppie found an 86 outshot on the bull to advance to the last four.
BoyleSports World Grand Prix Day Five Results
Danny Noppert 3-1 Ian White
Jonny Clayton 3-2 Krzysztof Ratajski
Gerwyn Price 3-0 Dave Chisnall
Stephen Bunting 3-1 Ryan Searle
BoyleSports World Grand Prix Day Six Schedule of Play
Friday 7 October (1900 BST)
2x Semi Final
Jonny Clayton v Danny Noppert
Gerwyn Price v Stephen Bunting