Gutsy Wade going for Grand Slam Glory!

Van den Bergh opened the semi-final with a brilliant 160 finish and punished early missed doubles from Wade to open up a 5-1 lead.

A high-quality contest then saw the pair hold throw for 12 legs - of which 11 were won in 15 darts or less - before Wade broke in leg 18 and then pinned double ten to cut the gap to 10-9.

Van den Bergh hit back, then broke back with a 76 finish and produced an 11-darter as he pulled out to 13-9, only for Wade to then take four of the next five to level at 14-all.

Van den Bergh posted a 14-darter to move a leg away from victory, but missed a dart at the bull for victory in leg 30 as Wade finished double six to stay in the game.

He then opened the deciding leg with scores of 140 and 180 before taking out 76 for a 12-darter to progress to the final as the winning dart put him ahead for the first time in the game.

"I'm unbelievably happy," said Wade. "I'm buzzing - I used to feel like this many years ago and I haven't felt like this for a long time.

"It hasn't happened for me at times but at the moment I'm pushing forward, and I really am happy to win. It means a lot to me.

"I was so poor to start off and I missed quite a lot of finishes. I probably should have lost that game, Dimitri was the better player, he didn't buckle or back down, but I did enough to win.

"I was beaten and then I wasn't beaten. I was making it hard for myself when it shouldn't have been that hard - I thought I out-played him for the first ten legs.

"I thought I'd blown it when I got back to 14-all and had a poor leg, but in that last leg I was so determined. Now that I'm in the final, I'm going to relax and enjoy myself."

Wade goes into the final as the 4/5 favourite with sponsors BoyleSports, with De Sousa rated at Evens to lift the Eric Bristow Trophy.

"Jose is phenomenal," added Wade. "I don't think he cares what he's doing or how he's doing it, he enjoys darts and is a big scorer and a great finisher - but I'm not bad

 

BoyleSports Grand Slam of Darts

Monday November 23

Semi-Finals

Jose De Sousa 16-12 Simon Whitlock

James Wade 16-15 Dimitri Van den Bergh

 

Tuesday November 24 (1800 GMT)

Final

Jose De Sousa v James Wade

Best of 31 legs