BDO World Darts Championships results: Glen Durrant survives scare as Scott Mitchell roars into quarter-finals
A review of Thursday's action at the BDO World Darts Championships, including wins for Glen Durrant and Scott Mitchell but a defeat for women's favourite Fallon Sherrock.
Defending Lakeside champion Glen Durrant booked his place in the quarter-finals but only after he eventually defied a stunning comeback from Scott Baker on Thursday night.
'Duzza' is bidding to become the first man since Eric Bristow from 1984-86 to lift this prestigious trophy for the third year in a row and it looked like the next step of this mission would be a fairly simple one as he raced into a 3-0 set lead with an average of 100.
The hot tournament favourite, who won the BDO Trophy and Finder Darts Masters in 2018 but was shocked by Adam Smith-Neale when seeking a third World Masters crown, suddenly started to lose his rhythm as Baker dug deep to make a real fight of it.
'The Mod', competing here for just the second year after a first-round defeat 12 months ago, won three sets in succession and all on deciding legs, with the third coming virtue of a brilliant 140 checkout after Durrant had previously missed three match darts.
With the pressure firmly on, Durrant picked up his game another level, taking out a pivotal 84 on the bullseye for a break of throw before closing out the set 3-1 on double 12.
Durrant averaged 96 compared to Baker's 89 and although he hit six more 180s with eight - both players hit 40% of their doubles in a truly fantastic match.
There were a couple of occasions where the 48-year-old Teesider angrily reacted to a spectator in the crowd who was calling out when he was about to throw but afterwards he said: "That was some match. His fans were fantastic, I had a couple of issues that I need to sort out, let me make it clear, it was nothing to do with Scott's fans. I simply don't win this title without some sort of story behind it."
Durrant will next meet Northern Ireland's Kyle McKinstry, who survived three match darts before defeating David Cameron 4-3 in a compelling contest.
The Village Man, 32, has always been well fancied to go far despite being unseeded having reached last year's World Trophy quarter-finals as well as boasting a string of other impressive results such as winning the Northern Ireland Open.
And it initially looked as though he would make light work of his Canadian opponent - unlike he did with Chris Landman in round one - when storming into a 2-0 set lead.
But the plucky Cameron, who previously thrashed Andy Hamilton 3-0 in the preliminary round before beating Gary Robson 3-1, refused to give up and won the next three sets on the trot.
It was so nearly a fourth for a player who'd never reached this far in five previous visits to the Lakeside but in the deciding leg he first missed a dart at the bullseye before spurning two at double 10 in his next visit after opting to hit single five.
McKinstry made him pay by taking out tops and he found another gear in the seventh set, winning it 3-0 and ending the match with an average of 89 and five 180s.
Former Lakeside champion Scott Mitchell demolished surprise package Krzysztof Kciuk 4-0 as he stormed into the quarter-finals.
'Scotty Dog', who lifted the famous trophy back in 2015, wasn't quite as hot as he was when averaging 95 during his 3-0 triumph over Oliver Ferenc in the previous round but this was still a commanding performance to fill him with confidence ahead of a quarter-final meeting with Jim Williams on Friday.
Mitchell took the opening set 3-0 against the darts and despite his throw being broken in the first leg of the second, he rallied to win the next three on the trot to double his lead.
A comfortable 3-0 third set followed with three 18-dart legs but he needed a stunning 120 checkout to force a deciding leg in the fourth after Kciuk blew his chance to start his comeback.
Kciuk, who upset the highly fancied Dave Parletti in the first round, once again missed set darts in the next leg as Dorset's Mitchell sealed his victory, finishing with an average of 86.
In the women's quarter-finals, top seed Lorraine Winstanley reached the semi-finals with a 2-0 victory over 10-time champion Trina Gulliver MBE.
Winstanley, a former World Trophy winner, hadn’t made the last four at the Lakeside since 2012 but insists this is finally her year to go all the way.
The first three legs saw breaks of throw in each but Winstanley edged the opening set 3-1 before a 124 checkout helped her go 1-0 up in the second.
Gulliver forced a deciding leg having trailed 2-0 but it was all in vain as Winstanley took out 56 for victory.
Next up for Winstanley is former three-time champion Anastasia Dobromyslova, who defeated fifth seed Aileen De Graaf 2-0.
The Russian fourth seed, who recently competed in the PDC World Darts Championship, averaged 83 in a pretty commanding performance in which she allowed her opponent just two legs and four darts at a double.
Dobromyslova, the champion in 2009, 2012 and 2013, was highly impressive from a scoring point of view, posting a first nine dart average of over 100 across the match but she'll need to brush up on her doubles after missing 17 of her 23 attempts.
Lisa Ashton's conqueror Mikuru Suzuki booked her spot in the last four with a commanding 2-0 triumph over Sharon Prins.
The Japanese star was well below her best with an average of just 61.70 compared to her opponent's 59 but that was down to a raft of missed doubles from both players.
Suzuki hit six out of her 32 attempts while Prins could only manage two from her 32 but she will expect to do much better in the next round.
Next up for Suzuki in the semi-finals is Maria O'Brien, who stunned the bookies' favourite Fallon Sherrock 2-0 in a result few saw coming.
Sherrock, 24, was well backed after Ashton's exit on the opening day - not to mention her own superb first-round display - but she struggled to get going against the Plymouth thrower.
O'Brien produced one of her finest ever performance, averaging 87 compared to Sherrock's 79 and nailed six of her 14 attempts at doubles in a ruthless display of finishing.
Sherrock didn't do much wrong when it came to doubles, hitting four out of seven as both sets went the distance, but simply didn't score heavily enough.
There was joyous drama in the World Youth final as 13-year-old Leighton Bennett became the youngest ever winner of the event as a bullseye finish for a 121 checkout sealed a 3-0 victory over Nathan Girvan. Click here for a full report, highlights and reaction from that match.
Scroll down for full results and Friday's schedule
Thursday results & Friday schedule
Thursday January 11
Afternoon Session (1pm)
Men's Second Round (Best of 7 sets)
Women's Quarter-Finals (Best of 3 sets)
TV Coverage: Quest (freeview channel 37) & Eurosport
- Leighton Bennett 3-0 Nathan Girvan – BDO World Youth Championship Final
- CLICK HERE FOR FULL WORLD YOUTH FINAL REPORT & HIGHLIGHTS
- Mikuru Suzuki 2-0 Sharon Prins
- Maria O’Brien 2-0 Fallon Sherrock
- Scott Mitchell 4-0 Krzysztof Kciuk
Evening Session (7pm)
Men's Second Round (Best of 7 sets)
Women's Quarter-Finals (Best of 3 sets)
TV Coverage: Eurosport
- Lorraine Winstanley 2-0 Trina Gulliver
- David Cameron 3-4 Kyle McKinstry
- Anastasia Dobromyslova 2-0 Aileen de Graaf
- Glen Durrant 4-3 Scott Baker
Friday January 12 Afternoon Session (1pm) Men's Quarter-Finals (Best of 9 sets) Women's Semi-Finals (Best of 3 sets) TV Coverage: Quest (freeview channel 37) & Eurosport
- Michael Unterbuchner v Willem Mandigers
- Mikuru Suzuki v Maria O'Brien
- Scott Waites v Conan Whitehead
Evening Session (7pm) TV Coverage: Eurosport
- Anastasia Dobromyslova v Lorraine Winstanley
- Scott Mitchell v Jim Williams
- Glen Durrant v Kyle McKinstry
Click here for the full Lakeside draw, schedule, results & TV guide