After a miserable Melbourne night, all eyes turn to the final World Series event of the summer in Perth next weekend.
Gary Anderson, James Wade and Michael Smith all lost in the quarter-finals at the Melbourne Darts Masters on Saturday.
Wade and Smith were beaten in last leg deciders while Anderson missed 25 darts at doubles as he lost to Daryl Gurney for third time inside a month.
Wade hit seven 180s as he got himself into a winning position against Simon Whitlock. The Unicorn man was 9-7 in front only for the Aussie to win the last three legs to snatch the victory. Wade missed two darts at 'tops' to win it 10-8, but Whitlock forced the decider and hit his 8th maximum, followed by a 174 and won the match with an 11 darter.
Anderson missed NINE darts at doubles in the opening leg of his quarter-final and that set the tone. He did battle back to move 8-7 in front but then hit the buffers. The Scot missed 'tops' to lead 9-8 which gave Gurney the chance to break. In the 18th leg, Gary had five darts to force a deciding leg but missed the lot and the Irishman stepped in.
Smith came back from 4-8 down against Peter Wright and a run of three 180s in three legs forced the decider. Wright had missed four darts to win 10-7 but in that final leg he hit a sixth 180 and Smith couldn't find a big score.
So, it's onto Perth and hopefully better news of Team Unicorn in Western Australia.
By STUART PYKE at the Melbourne Darts Masters
Photo courtesy Tim Murdoch/PDC
