World Cup of Darts: England survive scare against Singapore after Paul Lim beats Rob Cross
Paul Lim stunned world champion Rob Cross but England bounced back to defeat Singapore and reach the World Cup of Darts quarter-finals.
The ever popular 64-year-old rolled back the years in emphatic fashion with an average of 102.29 as he won the opening singles match against the world champion 4-2 at Frankfurt's Eissporthalle.
Lim and his partner Harith Lim famously knocked Scotland out of last year's World Cup and another huge upset was on the cards, until Dave Chisnall clinched the second singles rubber with the help of three 180s and a 142 checkout to force a doubles decider.
England were heavy favourites and despite dropping the opening leg, they won the next four on the trot to ensure Lim's earlier heroics were in vain.
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Cross said: "I'm relieved to be through and I think we'll get better as we go on tomorrow. I didn't play badly in my Singles game but Paul was great. He hit everything and it put us in a situation but Dave dug us out of a hole with his Singles win and then in the doubles we were good.
"I've got a lot of faith in Dave and when he gets his scoring right, there's nobody in the world who can score like him and it's a pleasure to play with him."
They will need to improve if they are to halt the run of impressive Belgian duo Dimitri van den Bergh and Kim Huybrechts, who were backed by our darts expert Chris Hammer to win this quarter of the draw.
After World Youth champion van den Bergh inspired a sensational comeback from the jaws of defeat against Republic of Ireland on Friday, it was much more plain sailing against Finland as they won both singles matches.
Huybrechts thrashed Marko Kantele 4-0, landing clinical finishes of 81, 96 and 76, while van den Bergh averaged just over 100 in a 4-1 win over Kim Viljanen despite missing seven darts at a double in the opening leg.
"Yesterday I was nervous all day but today I felt much more comfortable,” said Van den Bergh. I felt ready, I played so well in the practice and to average over 100 is always nice, but the main thing was to get the important win. We believe in each other and we won’t be scared of playing England, we can’t wait for it."
Defending champions and bookies favourites Netherlands romped into the quarter-finals with a 2-0 victory over South Africa thanks to a brace of whitewash wins for Michael van Gerwen and Raymond van Barneveld.
MVG averaged 95 in his routine triumph over Liam O'Brien before Barney swotted aside Devon Peterson with an average of 96.
They will next play host nation Germany, who hrilled the crowd with a thrilling comeback victory over Northern Ireland after Daryl Gurney had thrashed Martin Schindler 4-0 in the opening singles rubber.
Max Hopp held his nerve to win a deciding leg against Brendan Dolan, who missed a match dart, before pinning the decisive double in the pairs.
Australia, tipped by our Chris Hammer to win their quarter as well as reach the final at 6/1, overcame Spain 2-1 after a tense battle between the two sides went all the way to a deciding leg in the pairs.
Cristo Reyes edge out Simon Whitlock 4-2 in the singles match before Kyle Anderson kept Australia in the tie with a convincing 4-1 win over Toni Alcinas, wrapping it up in style with a stunning 170 finish to force a deciding doubles match.
A titanic tussle between the pairs saw the tie all-square at 3-3, before Whitlock cleaned up a pivotal 70 checkout to seal the fourth seeds path into the quarter-finals where they will face Wales.
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Fifth seeds Wales survived a scare from Switzerland to reach the quarter-finals for a second consecutive year with a 2-1 win.
Alex Fehlmann registered a shock 4-3 win over Gerwyn Price in the opening game of the afternoon, holding his nerve in a dramatic deciding leg after the Welshman missed three match darts.
Jonny Clayton levelled the tie for Wales with a 4-0 whitewash of Andy Bless in a clash between two World Cup debutants to take the match all the way.
The Swiss pair got off to a strong start in the doubles decider, taking the opening leg before running out of steam as Wales showed their class to run out 4-1 winners and book their place in the final day of action.
Scotland secured their passage into the business end of the tournament with a professional 2-0 win over Brazil.
Peter Wright put the Scots ahead in the tie as he eased to a comfortable 4-1 triumph over Diogo Portela before Gary Anderson finished the job with a comfortable 4-0 whitewash of Bruno Rangel to set up a last eight clash with Japan, who ended the dreams of John Part's Canada with a convincing 2-0 win.
Seigo Asada’s heavy-scoring proved to be the difference as he edged past Darth Maple 4-3 after surviving a match dart before Muramatsu crushed Dawson Murschell 4-0.
Saturday results & Sunday schedule
Saturday's quarter-finals
- Wales 2-1 Switzerland
- Australia 2-1 Spain
- Japan 2-0 Canada
- Scotland 2-0 Brazil
- Belgium 2-0 Finland
- England 2-1 Singapore
- Northern Ireland 1-2 Germany
- Netherlands 2-0 South Africa
Sunday June 3
Afternoon Session (1pm local time, 12pm BST)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports
Quarter-Finals (Best of 3 points)
(2x best-of-7-leg singles matches & one best-of-7-leg doubles decider if required)
- Wales v Australia
- Japan v Scotland
- Belgium v England
- Germany v Netherlands
Evening Session (7pm local time, 6pm BST)
Semi-Finals (Best of 3 points)
(2x best-of-7-leg singles matches & one best-of-7-leg doubles decider if required)
- Wales/Australia v Japan/Scotland
- Belgium/England v Germany/Netherlands
Final (Best of 5 points)
(2x best-of-7-leg singles matches, one best-of-7-leg doubles, then reverse singles)