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Taylor was sensational on his doubles – including a run of winning eight consecutive legs with his first dart at a double….it was an awesome display….Taylor finally winning 13-6.

Painter didn’t do a lot wrong but he simply wasn’t given a sniff, as Taylor lined up a quarter-final clash against Roland Scholten on Thursday night.

‘The Artist’ held his own for four legs but again Taylor crucially broke in the 5th leg of the match – just as he did against Wes Newton in the 1st Round – and there was no stopping him.

He won eight legs on the spin before Painter finally stopped the rot…..he then broke the Taylor throw for the first time in the match and won a third consecutive leg with a courageous 120 check-out….and Painter showed great character, refusing to give in, as he brought the house down with a magnificent 170 check-out. It was compelling stuff.

A double 17 won it for Taylor. His end average of 101.15 was the best of the week – just beating the efforts of Adrian Lewis and Raymond Van Barneveld.

“I am just pleased to get past the 2nd Round,” Taylor said. “This game is just getting better and better and fair play to Kevin, because I had to be at my very best to beat him.”

He added: “When people knock me, it inspires me. I know I’ve struggled over the last two or three months but I intend to make the critics eat their words!”

In the night’s other all-Unicorn clash, Adrian Lewis came up trumps against Andy Hamilton in a terrific tungsten tussle. Lewis averaged over 100, as he gained revenge for last year’s 2nd Round defeat at the hands of ‘The Hammer’ in Blackpool 12 months ago.

Hamilton won the opening leg with a 110 finish and it was honours even until a five leg spurt in the middle of the match gave Lewis a 9-5 advantage. In last year’s match at Blackpool, Hamilton came from 6-9 down to win and there were signs of a similar comeback, as he won three on the spin and Lewis then led 9-8.

Then came the pivotal leg of the game…..Hamilton missed two darts to make it 9-all and Lewis held his throw. The 22-year-old visibly grew in confidence….next came a 12-darter and although Hamilton came up with another ton-plus finish, Lewis finished in style.

He hit six perfect darts and won it with a 10-darter to finish with a terrific end average of 100.45

There was a certain maturity about Lewis’ performance – no showboating, no playing to the crowd and he looked relaxed and looked to be really enjoying the experience.

If he can perform to that level, he will give Raymond Van Barneveld a tough work-out in Thursday night’s quarter-final…..and Lewis will go into the match full of confidence after beating the World Champion in last Saturday’s Bobby Bourn Players Championship event.

Lewis said: “It is always hard playing Andy, because he is such a close friend and to be honest, my record against him isn’t good – but I felt so relaxed on the stage and always felt in control, even when he started to come back.”

There were no heroics from Unicorn’s wounded Welshman Barrie Bates against Barney.

Bates can hardly walk – suffering from a combination of gout and arthritis – and he confirmed after the match that he was taking a month off to get the problem sorted.

He held his own at the start and led 3-2 but Barneveld soon moved into gear. The Dutchman broke the Bates throw for the first time in the 7th leg. He then won five consecutive legs to take control.

Bates stopped the rot with a 96 finish but he was clearly struggling and in a lot of pain. The Welshman won just two more legs and couldn’t cope with the Barney charge.

Barneveld averaged 100.53 and enjoyed an impressive 62 per cent check-out rate.

Barney v Lewis in the quarter-finals…..bring it on! Lewis claims he has become more relaxed since watching Barneveld play, so it could well be a cracker.

In the afternoon session, James Wade won a thriller in the tie-break against Dennis Priestley. The Unicorn ace missed an amazing 11 darts for the match, before finally clinching a nail-biting 16-14 win.

Wednesday’s 2nd Round results:

Dennis Priestley 14-16 James Wade
Mervyn King 13-4 Andy Jenkins
Michael Van Gerwen 12-14 Ronnie Baxter
Adrian Lewis 13-9 Andy Hamilton
Phil Taylor 13-6 Kevin Painter
Raymond Van Barneveld 13-5 Barrie Bates

Thursday’s Quarter-Finals:

Afternoon session (best of 31 legs):

Terry Jenkins v Ronnie Baxter
James Wade v Mervyn King

Evening session:

Raymond Van Barneveld v Adrian Lewis
Phil Taylor v Roland Scholten

BY STUART PYKE

Photo courtesy of Lawrence Lustig/PDC