Unibet Masters - Report and Statistics 1st Day, Evening

JENKINS KO'S TAYLOR IN UNIBET MASTERS AS WADE REIGNS OVER KING ONCE AGAIN
TERRY JENKINS knocked Phil Taylor out of The Unibet Masters with a 10-7 first round at ArenaMK on Saturday night as reigning champion James Wade began his title defence with a 10-3 win over Mervyn King.

Jenkins picked up only his fourth career victory over the 16-time World Champion as Taylor - competing for the first time since the World Championship final - suffered an off-night on his doubles.
Taylor missed seven darts at doubles as Jenkins won the opening five legs without reply before the Stoke great's switch from aiming at the double 16 area of the board to tops helped him hit back to 7-3. He then finished 68, an 11-darter and double eight as he reduced the gap to 7-6, only for Jenkins to deny him the chance to level by taking the next two before going on to seal victory.

"I'm happy to beat Phil, but I'm also disappointed with the way I played," said Jenkins. "I've been smashing everything in practice so it was frustrating for me that I didn't play as well as I wanted to - but I did enough. Phil is still the man to beat and when Phil came back I just knew that I had to hold my throw and I managed to do that. I'm looking forward to the quarter-finals and I'm hoping I can relax and get into the game a bit because if I take my practice game onto stage I can win this."

Reigning Masters champion Wade overcame King 10-3 in their repeat of last year's final, avoiding a repeat of their dramatic clash in Edinburgh with a confident display.
Wade took the game's first five legs without reply in a superb opening, taking out 115 and 130 as well as an 11-darter before King took two of the next three to hit back. Wade then finished 108 and 138 to restore his cushion at 8-2, and though King traded 14-darters with his rival it was the left-hander who finished 94 to seal his quarter-final spot.

"Mervyn wasn't confident tonight and I could read that in his body language, so when I hit those first two finishes it seemed to rock him a little bit," said Wade. "My finishing and scoring will have to be a little bit better, but I'm happy to still be in the tournament and I'm enjoying it."

New World Champion Gary Anderson overcame some dodgy doubling as he defeated Andy Hamilton 10-2 to begin his challenge to win a third successive major event. The Scot now takes on Wade in the quarter-finals, and said: "I'm pleased to get that out of the way "It's been a busy few weeks and my preparation hasn't been great, so I'm pleased to get through that game because I was panicking a bit beforehand. You want to win and play well, but the main thing is I'm through to Sunday."

World number one Michael van Gerwen also made his return to action - following a post-World Championship holiday in the Maldives - with a 10-5 defeat of Wes Newton.

"In patches I played alright but I know I can play a lot better," said van Gerwen. "The most important thing is that I'm through but I need to do better and it will be a big test tomorrow - I can't make too many mistakes. It would be great to win this event but I've got a lot of hard work ahead of me because there are eight great players left."

Van Gerwen now takes on Dave Chisnall, who was the day's most impressive performer with a 106.30 average in his 10-5 win over Robert Thornton, hitting ten doubles from 14 attempts.


Statistics
Ave180sDoublesPlayervPlayer Ave180sDoubles
96.85210/29Wade 10:3King80.4623/10
93.7467/20Taylor 7:10Jenkins91.84310/24
89.75410/28Anderson 10:2Hamilton83.1722/12
93.89210/19v.Gerwen 10:5Newton91.2635/14








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