Terry Jenkins: Sneaked through into Grand Slam knockout stage
Terry Jenkins squeezed into the knockout stages of the Grand Slam of Darts after an agonising miss from Justin Pipe cost him the chance to progress from Group D.
Michael van Gerwen also emerged from the group stages after a brilliant victory in his winner-takes-all clash with Tony O'Shea, while Ted Hankey was also in supreme form as he did the same in his game with Ian White.
Pipe had entered the tournament as one of the form players in the PDC with three wins in the last month and five final appearances in the last eight tournaments, but he made a schoolboy error at the crucial moment which cost him his place in the event.
Pipe faced the already-eliminated Dave Chisnall, and looked favourite to win when left with 17 in the deciding leg, but incredibly he missed a single one and hit 20, busting his score and allowing Chisnall to win 5-4.
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"It hurts, it really hurts," said Pipe. "Of all the times to push a dart and hit the big 20, you just shouldn't do it, it should never happen but unfortunately it happened tonight and I paid the price."
Jenkins chance
That mistake meant that Jenkins could then progress by beating James Wade, which he did brilliantly with two double tops sealing a 5-3 victory with Pipe watching on agonisingly backstage, although there was little sympathy from Jenkins who declared Pipe's miss as "The best darts he's ever thrown!"
Defending champion Scott Waites was already out before he beat Mark Walsh, but the Group A story was World Youth finalist Van Gerwen showing some brilliant form to take out O'Shea 5-2 and move into the next round.
"I'm very happy with my performance tonight, especially in such a pressure game like this," said van Gerwen. "This is my fourth time in Wolverhampton and it's the first time I've managed to get out of the group stages, it's a big achievement for me."
Van Gerwen will now take on Hankey in the knockout stages after the two-time world champion defeated White 5-2 with some top arrows including a 161 checkout.
"I got it right again tonight," I finished pretty well tonight, so that made a big difference."
"It's going to be an interesting game that one against Michael, I beat Michael in the group stages last year but he's been playing well this year - it's his first time in the next round and it's a different game of darts so it could be interesting."
Deano through
Group B was early won by Dean Winstanley, after he completed a miserable tournament for Raymond van Barneveld by inflicting a 5-2 defeat on the deflated Dutchman.
"I'm shocked, but I'm enjoying it, I'm what I'm doing," said Winstanley. "I'm not saying I'm the best player in the world with the best averages but I'll scrap all day to get that win.
"My scoring has been good and I'm very happy with the way it's gone, even if I go out I'll still be happy but I'll just take it one game at a time and see how I get on."
Brendan Dolan managed to salvage some pride from a disappointing tournament as he beat Nigel Heydon 5-3 and scupper his chances of making it through from Group C.
Gary Anderson ended up topping that group, as he beat Wayne Jones 5-1 to go through to a tasty looking tie with Wade in the next round.
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