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

Posted in Unicorn Darts