Taylor sets up clash with Thornton
Taylor remains on course for a 15th world title
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By Matt Hallam. |  |
Monday, 28, Dec 2009 01:19
By Darren Plant.
Phil Taylor breezed through to the third round of the PDC World Championship with a 4-0 win over Steve Hine.
The 14 time world champion was never troubled by the Coventry thrower and only conceded two legs in winning the match.
Hine missed a dart at double 14 to take the first leg, and Taylor capitalised to take the first set 3-0.
Hine registered his first leg of the match in the fifth leg of the match, but it wasn't enough to prevent Taylor from going into a 2-0 lead.
'The Muffin Man' took the lead in the third set, but Taylor went into overdrive to take the next six legs and comfortably move into the last 16.
Taylor will now play Robert Thornton, after the Scot saw off the challenge of Jyhan Artut by beating the German qualifier 4-1.
Thornton stormed to the opening two sets of the match, but Artut hit back to take a tense third set to worry Thornton.
However, Thornton edged a tight fourth set in the deciding leg before completing victory with a 13 dart leg to set up a formidable clash with Taylor.
Former finalist Mark Dudbridge beat Alan Tabern 4-3 in what is an early contender for match of the tournament.
Tabern took the first set, before Dudbridge took the next three - all 3-1 - to move one away from victory.
But 'The Saint' - who hit 11 180's throughout the match - found a rich vein of form to take advantage of a missed match dart from Dudbridge to take the match to 3-3.
Tabern looked favourite to win after hitting a 141 checkout and a 13 dart leg to move one leg away from the match but he missed five match darts to allow Dudbridge to make it 2-2.
Both players registered solid checkouts before 'Flash' took control by breaking throw in the ninth leg of the set, before finally winning the final set 6-4 to move on to face Co Stompe in the next round.
Earlier in the day, Stompe began the second round with a bang with a stunning display to defeat world number five Mervyn King 4-2.
Stompe - who reached the quarter finals last year - hit 5 180's and averaged 99.86 against King who was one of the main contenders for the title.
The Dutchman produced an impeccable first set - hitting legs of 11, 13 and 14 respectively to storm 1-0 ahead.
He soon went 2-0 ahead before King registered his first game at the start of the third.
However, Stompe missed chances to take a 3-0 lead, and King hit a vital 119 checkout on the way to taking the set.
Some scintillating darts from King and four missed match darts from Stompe saw the Englishman make the match 3-2
Stompe recovered to hit a 94 checkout to win the first leg of the sixth set, and move one away from the match, but King silenced the crowd with a delightful 136 checkout, but that wasn't enough as Stompe took out 64 to move into the last 16.
Adrian Lewis made the third round with an impressive 4-2 win over Wes Newton.
Lewis won the opening two sets without conceding a leg, and although Newton won his first two legs in the third, Lewis won the decider to move three sets up.
However, Newton found some form to match Lewis blow-for-blow and went through a spell of darts where he hit seven double attempts out of seven to claw two sets back.
But Lewis upped the tempo in the sixth set with a couple more 180's to win the match and move onto a match with Kevin McDine in round three.
McDine came out on top in what had been deemed 'the battle of the limpers' with a 4-0 win over Barrie Bates.
McDine - suffering with a knee injury - was clinical on the doubles against Bates - who has been plagued with foot problems for the past few years - to make the third round of the World Championships for the first time.
Both players broke throw at the start of the match, but McDine was lethal on his doubles and he soon opened up a 2-0 lead with a 67% checkout rate.
Bates hit 4 180's throughout the match, but he lacked his opponent's decisiveness when it mattered, and McDine strolled to a comfortable 4-0 win.