http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyPg19W1AIA
Michael van Gerwen became only the fifth man to hit a nine dart finish in the World Championships and remarkably fell just one dart short of an unprecedented back-to-back maximum check-out.
By Declan Whooley
The Dutchman was in top form last night at the Ally Pally as he beat James Wade 6-4 to book a place in tomorrow’s showpiece event, but the fifth set was where the main talking point occurred.
Van Gerwen had raced into a 3-1 set lead over Wade thanks primarily to his heavy scoring, but found himself trailing by two legs. The 23 year-old then hit a maximum, 177 and a 144 check-out on double 12 to earn his place in history.
The crowd were still in raptures when only a narrow miss on double 12 prevented him from a most unlikely feat.
The perfect 17 darts were not enough to see Van Gerwen win the set as Wade clawed one back but it wasn’t enough to stop the Dutch juggernaut.
In the other semi-final, Phil Taylor overcame a spirited fightback by Raymond van Barneveld to win 6-4 as he seeks a 16th world title.
The Power appeared to be cruising as he led 5-1 against an out-of-sorts Barneveld, but the five-time world champion rallied and was unerring on double 8 as he clawed the game back to 5-4.
Taylor rallied to make sure a dramatic collapse was averted, but there was more drama after the game when there appeared to be an altercation after the two shook hands.
Taylor played down the squabble afterwards and now marches on to face Van Gerwen in what promises to be an entertaining final.
Here is the spat after the game last night.
