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John Part defeats Mervyn King to reach the quarter-finals (Picture: Chris Dean/PDC)

UK Open Darts: John Part wins two thrillers to reach the quarter-finals of his first TV major since 2015

Darts

Sun March 04, 2018 · 7y ago

Three-time world champion John Part continued his dream return to the TV stage by reaching the quarter-finals after two thrilling victories on Saturday.

Competing in his first big televised individual event since the 2015 World Championship, the legendary Darth Maple was a 1000/1 outsider for glory with Sky Bet ahead of the first round on Friday afternoon.

Now, having been handed a quarter-final draw against another rank outsider Robert Owen in the last eight, his chances of an astonishing major title is very much alive and Sky Bet make him 20/1.

One of either Gary Anderson and Rob Cross will be heading out in the quarters after they were paired together while the next two in the betting, Corey Cadby and Gerwyn Price, who were both tipped up by our Chris Hammer at 28/1 and 80/1 respectively, will also do battle. The other tie will see two more unlikely underdogs Steve West and David Pallett collide.

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🤑🎯 Pre #UKOpen odds of quarter-finalists!

(Current odds in brackets)

Gary Anderson 8/1 (2/1)
Rob Cross 8/1 (9/4)
Corey Cadby 28/1 (5/1)
Gerwyn Price 80/1 (7/1)
Steve West 200/1 (12/1)
Robert Owen 400/1 (16/1)
David Pallett 1000/1 (16/1)
John Part 1000/1 (20/1)#LoveTheDarts pic.twitter.com/1YF6UTCBVh
— Sporting Life (@SportingLife) March 3, 2018

Listeners of our weekly Sporting Life Darts Podcast - which the 51-year-old is the star of the show - will know how upbeat he was feeling ahead of his long trip from Toronoto to Minehead this week and he's certainly not been adversely affected by the freezing conditions which have forced the event to be played behind closed doors with no spectators.

Having won all his first three games 6-2, 6-0 and 10-2 on Friday, the veteran Canadian was then underdog during Saturday afternoon's session to see of Ron Meulenkamp, who is ranked almost 50 places higher in the PDC world rankings at 51.

The 29-year-old Dutchman led all the way, holding advantages of 3-1, 5-3, 7-5 and 9-7 but Part bounced back to take the final three legs, including a 93 checkout in the decider after his opponent missed a match dart at tops.

Part was once again the outsider when he returned to the televised main stage for his last-16 encounter with fellow 51-year-old Mervyn King, who is ranked 24 in the world.

It looked like his fairytale run would come to an end when he trailed 4-1, 6-3 and 7-5 but he hung on in there and punished King's sloppy finishing with a string of stunning high checkouts from Part.

He landed three ton+ finishes in the match, including a 118 checkout to move ahead for the first time at 8-7 while he also took out 112, 109 and a crucial 76 which levelled the match at 7-7.

🙌 John Part!

💷 Friday: 1000/1
🎯 R1 6-2
🎯 R2 6-0
🎯 R3 10-2
🎯 R4 10-9
🎯 R5 10-8

🇨🇦 The legendary @DarthMaple180 beats Mervyn King to reach the #UKOpen quarter-finals!

🏆 This would be one of the greatest darts stories ever told if he can go on and lift the title! pic.twitter.com/y600r3HLBc
— Sporting Life (@SportingLife) March 3, 2018

Victory means Part reaches the quarter-finals of an individual major for the first time since the 2012 Grand Slam of Darts while the last time he won five matches on a stage such as this, he went on to win the last of his three world titles in 2008.

Part told ITV4: "It wasn't looking good for quite a while and I was feeling the pressure. I got frustrated and Mervyn was scoring well.

"Fortunately for me he didn't get on top of his doubles. I hit big outshots at the right times which were like steals - I didn't deserve the legs. But you have to take them because someone will do it to you.

"I've found over the years that the physical and the mental energy are pretty close together but now I physically feel more drained. Winning first up means I've got a longer night to recover and rest and do what I need to do to play well tomorrow.

"My fatigue is showing I don't do this on a regular basis but I could get through, maybe."

"I don't want to show anyone up. It looks bad for some guys that I beat because I've been out of the main picture but I assure people over the last five years I've felt a lot of physical issues. I feel better now than I have done for a while and I can get to a pretty good standard a lot of the time. So it's not that foolish that a commentator is still playing and winning."

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Sky Bet odds

Click here to place your bets

Gary Anderson 2/1
Rob Cross 9/4
Corey Cadby 5/1
Gerwyn Price 7/1
Steve West 12/1
Robert Owen 16/1
David Pallett 16/1
John Part 20/1

Gary Anderson initially firmed up his position as the tournament favourite prior to the quarter-final draw by posting the highest average of the weekend so far during a 10-6 victory over Jermaine Wattimena, which followed his earlier 10-3 win against Ricky Evans.

The Flying Scotsman's nine 180s helped him posted a mark of 104.72 despite a mediocre performance on his finishing (33.33%) as he looks to makie the most of Michael van Gerwen and Peter Wright's shock exits on Friday by landing his first major since the 2016 World Championship.

World champion Rob Cross is close behind in the betting but will face Anderson next after thrashing Polish star Krzysztof Ratajski 10-3 thanks to an average of 103.88 and a checkout percentage of 62.5%.

Voltage almost blew a 5-1 lead against Kyle Anderson earlier in the day before dragging himself over the line 10-7.

The 2017 runner-up Gerwyn Price, who was tipped by Chris Hammer at 80/1, came from 4-1 down to defeat the last remaining Rileys Amateur Qualifier Paul Hogan 10-9.

The Premier League star averaged 101.4 average, hit 10 180s, managed a high checkout of 160 and was 55% on the doubles - which just goes to show how impressive the delivery driver played.

It was the second year in a row that Hogan was the sole surviver of the 32 amateur players in the draw having famously knocked out Anderson in 2017 before losing to Price.

The other four quarter-finalists lack the experience of going this far before in a big major.

The talented UK Open debutant Corey Cadby, also tipped by our Chris Hammer at 28/1, will be a popular bet after seeing off Chris Dobey 10-7 on Saturday evening having earlier despatched Martin Schindler by the same scoreline, while Steve West shocked Premier League Darts leader Michael Smith 10-9 in a deciding leg.

Bully Boy was among the favourites after maintaining his fine form earlier in the day with a 10-4 win over Ryan Meikle but he instead became the latest big name to fall.

David Pallett and Robert Owen also continued their unlikely runs to the last eight with 10-7 victories over Kim Huybrechts and Ian White respectively.

Pallett had previously seen off two-time UK Open champion James Wade 10-6 in the fourth round.

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🤔🎯 Remember you can ask John Part anything you like about darts (tips, experiences, advice etc!) on the Sporting Life Darts Podcast next week!

So get your questions in to the #UKOpen hero!#LoveTheDarts pic.twitter.com/zVGZCp44NA
— Sporting Life (@SportingLife) March 2, 2018

Earlier on Saturday during the fourth round, the conquerors of both MVG and Wright crashed out.

Jeffrey de Zwaan overcame 1/50 favourite MVG in a huge shock on Friday night but he lost 10-8 to Hogan, who averaged 98.

Meanwhile, 18-year-old Nathan Rafferty, who stunned Snakebite, missed three match darts in a deciding leg as he lost 10-9 to Owen.

World Grand Prix champion Daryl Gurney's hopes of a second major trophy ended when he lost 10-5 to Huybrechts.