It was a massive Shanghai Surprise.
Unicorn star Gary Anderson was knocked out of the Shanghai Darts Masters by Royden Lam. The No.1 seed losing a last leg decider to the Asian No.1 on Friday.
But he only has himself to blame.....crucial missed doubles cost Gary dearly and just days after winning the US Darts Masters in some style, Anderson failed to fire in China.
So instead of an all Unicorn quarter-final, it is Lam who will take on Michael Smith.
Anderson missed two darts to break in the opening leg and then six darts to win the third leg, so instead of being 3-0 up he found himself 4-1 down. He got back to within a leg only for the man from Hong Kong to take out 320 in six darts....180 and a superb 140 finish.
The Scot managed to force a last leg but Lam held his nerve to win with his third match dart when Anderson was sat on 22 himself.
Smith won an all Unicorn affair without dropping a leg. Team Unicorn’s 20-yr-old Xiaochen Zong didn’t play badly. He hit a 180 and should have won a couple of legs but missed chances and Smith was too good, hitting three 180s on his way to a 6-0 win.
James Wade’s good form continued. He also hit three maximums and averaged nearly 104 in beating Shanghai’s top player Hailong Chen 6-0.
Team Unicorn’s Seigo Asada lost 6-3 to Peter Wright. The turning point was the fifth leg when the Japanese ace missed darts to go 3-2 up.
Unicorn’s other Chinese player Yuanjun Liu was beaten 6-2 by Gerwyn Price in the opening match of the tournament. From two legs apiece the Welshman hut 11 and 12 darters and four 180s to take the win.
But there’s no doubt the defeat of Anderson will go down as one of the big upsets in World Series history.
Shanghai Darts Masters 1st Round results:
Gerwyn Price 6-2 Yuanjun Liu
James Wade 6-0 Hailong Chen
Rob Cross 6-0 Chengan Liu
Peter Wright 6-3 Seigo Asada
Michael Smith 6-0 Xiaochen Zong
Daryl Gurney 6-1 Lourence Ilagen
Michael van Gerwen 6-1 Lihao Wen
Gary Anderson 5-6 Royden Lam
Saturday Q/Finals (best of 15 legs):
Peter Wright v Gerwyn Price
Rob Cross v James Wade
Michael van Gerwen v vbDaryl Gurney
Royden Lam v Michael Smith
STUART PYKE reporting from Shanghai
Photo courtesy PDC