UK Open - Second Day, Evening

BIG GUNS MOVE INTO CORAL UK OPEN QUARTER-FINALS
MICHAEL VAN GERWEN and Adrian Lewis remain in the hunt to claim the Coral UK Open title following dominant Fifth Round victories on Saturday night, but giant-killer Aden Kirk's challenge ended with defeat to Brendan Dolan.

World Champion van Gerwen swept into the last eight of the 250,000 pound tournament at the Butlins Minehead Resort with a 9-4 win over Mark Webster, averaging 100 in a strong performance. The Dutchman actually trailed 2-0 early on as Webster started brightly, and after being pegged back level the Welsh ace led 3-2 - only for van Gerwen to win the next six legs in devastating fashion, following up back-to-back 13-dart legs with an 11-darter during the run. Webster hit back in the next on double ten, but missed the bull to continue his fightback as van Gerwen posted double eight to move into the quarter-finals.
"Mark started well but I came back really strongly and I was pleased with that," said van Gerwen, who is the 4/6 favourite with sponsors Coral to lift the title on Sunday. "I know I'm in form and I'm hitting the right darts when I need to. I've never won this tournament before so that's a big aim for me on Sunday."
Van Gerwen now plays Ian White in the last eight, with the Stoke ace enjoying a 9-7 victory over 2010 finalist Gary Anderson in their Fifth Round encounter.

Two-time World Champion Lewis, meanwhile, stormed into the last eight for a second successive year of the event with a brilliant 9-2 win over Raymond van Barneveld, the 2006 and 2007 UK Open winner. Lewis won the game's first three legs without reply before van Barneveld hit back in the fourth, but Lewis completed a run of five straight legs with a stunning 154 finish before holding off his opponent's brief rally to progress.
"I had to get into Raymond straight away and I did that," said Lewis. "I kept the pressure on him and did a good job today, and hopefully I can go all the way now on Sunday."
Lewis has been drawn with Mensur Suljovic in the last eight, after the Austrian won through to his first PDC major quarter-final with a 9-5 victory against emerging Welsh youngster Jamie Lewis.

James Wade, another two-time UK Open winner, also exited the event in the Fifth Round as he agonisingly went down 9-8 to Terry Jenkins in a thriller. Jenkins led 2-0 before Wade, aided by a 101 finish, hit back to level at three-all, only for the Ledbury ace to defy a 136 checkout from the left-hander in winning five of the next seven legs for an 8-5 advantage. Wade hit back to level and force a decider, but Jenkins was first to a finish as double ten put him into the last eight, where he meets Northern Ireland's Brendan Dolan after the former World Grand Prix finalist ended Aden Kirk's amazing run.
Kirk had knocked out Phil Taylor and Peter Wright in reaching the last 16 on his debut in a major tournament, and again impressed as he shared the opening 14 legs with Dolan, who then landed a pair of 13-dart finishes to claim a 9-7 win.

The other quarter-final will see Kevin Painter face Mervyn King, who won through to that stage in the UK Open for the first time with a 9-6 defeat of Holland's Christian Kist. Painter, meanwhile, opened up a 7-1 lead over Dean Winstanley in their Fifth Round clash with some superb finishing, and though the Yorkshireman took out 136 and set up a possible nine-darter as he battled back, the 2011 Players Championship Finals winner prevailed 9-5.







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