Van Barneveld through despite defeat
Van Barneveld will play Mervyn King in the second round.
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Wednesday, 18, Nov 2009 12:45
By Darren Plant.
Raymond van Barneveld made it through to the knockout stages of the Grand Slam of Darts - despite falling to defeat against John Part.
The Dutchman only needed to win two legs to get through and he achieved that by edging 3-2 ahead.
However, despite his obvious disappointment, Part produced his 'A' game and won the last two legs in 12 darts to achieve a dramatic 5-4 victory, but Van Barneveld admitted he was happy to just make it through to the next round.
Van Barneveld said: "John deserved the win and it was a great final leg, but I am happy just to be in the second round."
Van Barneveld qualifies as runner-up in Group D, after Kevin Painter achieved top spot thanks to a 5-0 whitewash win over Francis Hoenselaar.
Painter was never at his fluent best, but checkouts of 118 and 148 moved him into a 3-0 lead and he soon closed out the win.
Mark Webster came out on top in the runner-up decider in Group A, as he halted the run of Anastasia Dobromyslova.
The Russian broke throw twice to move 2-1 ahead but some composed darts in difficult circumstances from Webster saw him move 4-2 ahead, and he sealed the win and a place in the second round with a 17 dart leg.
The biggest shock of the night came when a below-par Phil Taylor was blown away by Vincent Van Der Voort, slumping to a 5-1 defeat.
The quick-fire Dutchman rattled off the opening four legs after 'The Power' had missed darts in legs one and three to hold his throw and be level at the break.
He eventually pulled a leg back for 4-1, but a 180 on the way to a 14 dart leg saw Van Der Voort was enough to claim a surprise win.
Kirk Shepherd saw off the challenge of wildcard qualifier Steve Maish with an impressive 5-3 win.
Maish took control of the early exchanges, taking the first leg with a 140 checkout and soon moving 2-0 ahead.
However, Shepherd hit back in some style, hitting 2 180's and 145 and 95 checkouts, to take three successive legs in 13, 15 and 15 darts.
Maish levelled the scores at 3-3, but Shepherd was the stronger of the two in the final stages and he hit double 16 in the eight leg to earn the decisive two points.
In the group's other game, Darryl Fitton restored some pride by seeing off Mervyn King 5-4.
There was never more than one leg between the players, and the decisive moment came when Fitton hit scores of 180, 140 and 165 in the final leg to set up double eight, and he hit it at the second opportunity to claim a consolation victory.
Tony O'Shea and Colin Lloyd are the qualifiers from Group B, despite the latter losing his game on the night.
O'Shea was too strong for Lloyd in their encounter, storming into a 4-0 lead, and he eventually secured a 5-2 win.
That left Colin Osborne requiring a win against Brian Woods, who had lost his previous two group games.
It appeared that Osborne was going to canter through to the next round after taking a 4-1 lead, but Woods came from nowhere to win four successive legs to steal the win, and send Osborne out the tournament.
Four of the eight fixtures for the second round starting on Thursday are as follows -
Tony O'Shea vs. Mark Webster
Kevin Painter vs. Kirk Shepherd
Phil Taylor vs. Colin Lloyd
Mervyn King vs. Raymond Van Barneveld