Joe Cullen will contest another ‘Major’ TV quarter-final on Sunday.
He dominated the all Unicorn 2nd Round clash at the European Championship as he swept to a 10-4 victory over Michael Smith on Friday night in Dortmund.
Also on Friday, Team Unicorn ace James Wade won his 1st Round match against Martin Schindler but Kyle Anderson was edged out by Gerwyn Price.
For Cullen, it is a first European Championship quarter-final and he will play World Champion Rob Cross in the last eight.
Meanwhile there could well be a new name on the European Championship trophy after Steve West caused a stunning upset by beating defending champion Michael van Gerwen 10-7.
So the door opens even wider now for Cullen in that top half of the draw.
“Michael wasn’t on his game, so it was just a case of keeping the pressure on and trying to force the errors. It was a decent performance and there is more to come. It is a great chance for me to showcase what I can do and I have to take that chance,” Cullen said.
Smith endured a nightmare night on the doubles, hitting just four from 29 attempts....NINE missed darts in the second leg set the tone as Cullen went 4-0 up.
Smith battled back superbly winning four of the next five legs but when he blew twice more darts to make it five legs apiece, the writing was on the wall.
Cullen had a string of 180s as he won five straight legs and he won the match in some style with a majestic 132 finish on the bull.
Wade will face Ricky Evans for a place in the last eight. “The Machine” ground out a 6-3 victory over German Martin Schindler. After racing into a 3-0 lead he was always in control.
But Kyle Anderson threw away a great opportunity against Gerwyn Price. The Team Unicorn Aussie averaged 101 - nearly 10 points more than his opponent - but just one break of throw was enough to see the Welshman through.
European Championship 2nd Round:
Joe Cullen 10-4 Michael Smith
Simon Whitlock 10-6 Peter Wright
Richard North 2-10 Rob Cross
Michael van Gerwen 7-10 Steve West
Friday 1st Round results:
Jonny Clayton 2-6 James Wilson
Darren Webster 6-5 Stephen Bunting
Gerwyn Price 6-4 Kyle Anderson
Mensur Suljovic 3-6 Cristo Reyes
Daryl Gurney 4-6 Ricky Evans
Max Hopp 6-1 William O’Connor
James Wade 6-3 Martin Schindler
Adrian Lewis 5-6 Dave Chisnall
Story from STUART PYKE in Germany
Photo courtesy PDC
