Hopes for an American victory in in Manchester were ended as New York’s Jim Widmayer fell to Geert de Vos (Belgium) at the Top 16 stage.  Sadly, Jim was unable to reproduce the brilliance displayed two days earlier, and in particular failed to convert some crucial checkouts.  In particular, three missed darts from 36 in the second leg (which would have tied it at 1-1) could have made a huge difference.

However, yet again Widmayer did himself, and his country, proud.  His presence is becoming a regular feature in these televised BDO events, and no doubt, there are many more well-deserved appearances to come.

Also departing from the tournament tonight were the highly-rated English trio of Scott Mitchell, Darryl Fitton, and Gary Robson.  Like Widmayer, top seed Mitchell found the doubles elusive, and after sharing the first four legs with Wayne Warren, allowed the Welshman to capture the final five legs, and a place in the quarter-finals.  Number 6 seed Robson did win one more leg than Mitchell, but that was still nowhere near enough to cope with an impressive performance by Mark McGeeney.  McGeeney finished the match with a nice 32.92 average, and used just 26 darts (legs of 12 and 14) to take the last two legs.  Fitton, meanwhile, forged leads of 4-1 and 6-4 against Dutchman Wesley Harms, but the final three legs saw the youngster advance.

Glen Durrant again showed his class with an average of 32.99, but he needed every bit of that to squeeze past Pip Blackwell, while Stefaan Deprez made it two Belgians in the Top 8 with his defeat of Jamie Hughes.  Finally, Canada’s Jeff Smith ended his match with a brace of 12-darters (and checkouts of 123 and 114) as he he sent Sam Hewson home.

The women’s quarter-finals went pretty much according to plan as the top four seeded players made their way to the semis.  Deta Hedman (2), Fallon Sherrock (4), and Anastasia Dobromyslova (1) all recorded 5-3 scorelines, against Rachel Brooks, Aileen de Graaf, and Rhian Griffiths respectively.  Of the three, Sherrock was perhaps the most impressive, hitting a trio of maximum 180’s on her way to a ppd average of 27.86.

2015 World Champ Lisa Ashton continued her brilliant run with a 5-0 whitewash of Zoe Jones.  Ashton posted legs of 19, 16, 18. 15, and 18, and an average of 29.13.  On that kind of form, it will take something special to prevent her from picking up her second major of the New Year…

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