James Wade, Kim Huybrechts and Ian White have missed out on a place in the World Matchplay quarter-finals.
Wade lost to Simon Whitlock, Huybrechts was beaten by Peter Wright, while White went down to Mensur Suljovic.
For Wade, it was just one of those days. Normally so reliable on the doubles, he suffered a nightmare hitting seven from 29 attempts and all those misses were crucial. In the end it was the difference between winning and losing.
The stats don’t lie. Wade had at least one dart at double in the last 11 legs of the match.
A slow start also proved costly for ‘The Machine’ as he slipped 3-0 behind. But a brilliant 149 check-out got him going and after Whitlock missed chances, it was 3-2.
However, Wade’s double troubles were only just beginning. The Aussie stretched his lead to 6-3. The Unicorn man hung in there before missing doubles in three straight legs. There was no coming back though after he missed a great opportunity to get back to within a leg at 9-8. Whitlock polished it off with back-to-back legs to end the hopes of the former Winter Gardens winner.
And of course Wade’s exit means there’ll be a new name on the Matchplay trophy on Sunday night.
Huybrechts couldn’t match Wright in the scoring stakes despite a spectacular start. The Unicorn man hit two 180s in the opening leg, but as it turned out that was the only time he was in front in the entire match.
Wright took control to lead 3-1 and 5-3 after a 121 finish. The Belgian then responded with a check-out of 100 for an 11 darter, but that was as close as he got.
Wright went on a spectacular run of five straight legs with an 11 darter of his own followed by finishes of 130 and 116 to move 10-4 up.
Huybrechts stopped the rot with a 5th leg but Wright wrapped it with an average of 105 and he will face Whitlock in the quarter-finals.
White followed a similar pattern as Wade and also left himself too much to do and was always playing catch up against Mensur Suljovic. 3-0 behind and it should have been 4-0 but the Austrian missed four darts at doubles.
White won back-to-back legs before Suljovic reeled off four on the spin to open up a 7-2 advantage. All of a sudden though, the Unicorn man found his touch as he chipped away at the lead....he took out a superb 150 to make it 7-9 before closing the gap to just one.
But that is as close as he got. He did miss the bull for a 127 to get to within o e again before Suljovic sealed the deal on D7.
Also on Wednesday night, Darren Webster shocked World Champion Rob Cross 11-8 to setup a showdown with Suljovic in the quarter-finals.
Wednesday 2nd Round results:
Simon Whitlock 11-7 James Wade
Mensur Suljovic 11-8 Ian White
Rob Cross 8-11 Darren Webster
Peter Wright 11-5 Kim Huybrechts
Story from STUART PYKE
Photo courtesy Lawrence Lustig / PDC
