Gary Anderson produced a stunning display of dazzling darts to light up Las Vegas as he was crowned US Darts Masters king!
The Team Unicorn superstar claimed his 6th World Series title in some style. From 1-4 down, he reeled off seven straight legs to beat Rob Cross 8-4 in the final at the Mandalay Bay.
Earlier Gary produced an epic fightback to take a thrilling all Unicorn semi-final in a deciding leg against James Wade.......Wade had earlier walloped Michael van Gerwen and was 6-2 up against Anderson, but the Scot battled back to win 8-7.
“It has been some day!” Anderson said. “To be honest I hadn’t picked up the darts for three or four weeks because I was away with the family. Perhaps that’s the way forward! They were two special games against James and Rob, but I just felt like it was my day.”
When Anderson is playing like that, it really is a thing of beauty and he was unstoppable.
The Unicorn man had a bit of double trouble in his quarter-final against youngster Dawson Murschell, but despite missing 18 doubles he won 8-5.
The semi-final against Wade was fantastic. Wade carried on where he left off against Van Gerwen, playing his best darts for well over a year. He raced into a 6-2 advantage against Anderson. The Scot produced three ton plus finishes to claw his way back.
Crucially Wade missed three darts at ‘tops’ for a 7-5 lead and Anderson drew level. But it was his turn to miss....three for the lead and Wade edged back in front at 7-6. He then wired D10 for a 140 finish to win and Anderson forced the decider! A cool 75 check-out and Gary has done it with 8/12 on the doubles.
The final saw Cross race into a 3-0 lead and at 4-1 up we wondered what Anderson had left. But we needn’t have worried.....seven straight legs, including six 180s and just because he could, the Scot won the title in some style with a magnificent 164 finish!
The big turning point came in the 7th leg just before the break.....both players missed five darts to win it. If Cross had taken the leg it would have been 5-2 but Anderson nicked it and there was no stopping him after that.
You have to feel for Wade who was simply sensational on Saturday in Vegas.
He destroyed Van Gerwen in the last eight.....5-0 up including a 13 darter, two 12 dart legs and an 11 darter for good measure! At that stage he hadn’t missed a double! The Dutchman tried to get himself back into the match but then Wade banged in a superb 161 finish and Van Gerwen’s race was run as the Unicorn man won 8-3.
Michael Smith’s hopes ended in the quarter-finals for the fourth consecutive World Series tournament as the Unicorn man suffered an 8th straight defeat at the hands of Cross.
In a quality affair which saw 14 x 180s, there were 12 holds of throw before Smith was finally broken and Cross won three legs on the spin to claim the win.
But Las Vegas 2018 is the year of the Scot....the year of the sensational Gary Anderson.
US Masters results - Q/Finals:
Rob Cross 8-6 Michael Smith
Peter Wright 8-6 Daryl Gurney
Gary Anderson 8-5 Dawson Murschell
James Wade 8-3 Michael van Gerwen
S/Finals:
Rob Cross 8-3 Peter Wright
Gary Anderson 8-7 James Wade
Final:
Gary Anderson 8-4 Rob Cross
By STUART PYKE at the Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas
