2007 BDO World Darts Championship - Tournament Review

Tournament Review

Day One Saturday 6 January
Jelle Klaasen's defence of his world championship ended in the first round with a defeat by fellow Dutchman, Co Stompé. Klaasen, who had a difficult year since his victory over Raymond van Barneveld in last year's final was ranked lower than his opponent and lost in straight sets. It was the sixth time that a champion failed to win his opening match on the defence of the title. Stompé's victory was his first at Lakeside since 2002 - having lost in the first round at the last five attempts.

Davy Richardson finally managed to win a match at Lakeside, some fourteen years after his first attempt. He had lost in the first round in 1993 (to Steve Beaton), 1999 (to Co Stompé), 2001 (to Jez Porter), 2002 (to Wayne Mardle) and 2005 (to Martin Adams) but his bad run ended with a victory over number nine seed Vincent van der Voort.

No problems for top seed Martin Adams and other seeded players Mervyn King, Ted Hankey and Mike Veitch who all earned places in the second round with straight sets victories.

Day Two Sunday 7 January
The second day produced a series of shocks as the bookmaker's pre-tournament favourite for the title, Michael van Gerwen lost to Gary Robson. The 17 year-old World Masters champion was 9/4 favourite for the title, but found himself trailing through most of the match. Gerwen shown some signs of the form that took him number three in the world, but his night could be summed up by his start to match. He took the first leg against the darts, then hit three single ones to start the next leg. The inconsistently plagued him throughout the match as did his sponsors logo on his shirt which he had to keep pushing back into place. Robson, winner of the 2005 World Darts Trophy missed darts in the final set to clinch the match but finally hit a double four in the eighth leg to seal the win.

Earlier in the day the shocks started with Gary Anderson and Darryl Fitton making early exits. Albertino Essers, a Dutchman who had suffered from dartitis in recent years, ended second seed Anderson's hopes with a 3-2 win.

Fitton, who made his trademark entrance dancing to Madness hit One Step Beyond..., took the first set against qualifier Phill Nixon but then lost nine consecutive legs to go down 3-1. Nixon, making his debut in the tournament at the age of 50, hit checkouts of 121 and 110 as he refused to allow the seventh seed any way back into the match.

Tony Eccles, seeded four but a 50/1 outsider for the title beat promising Welshman Mark Webster in straight sets. Webster failed to show the form that took him to a Europe Cup singles title and like van Gerwen earlier in the evening, his Lakeside debut ended in defeat.

Day Three Monday 8 January
Day three's play was overshadowed by the withdrawal from the tournament by 2004 champion Andy Fordham. The 44-year-old Dartford publican suffered breathing difficulties as a result of a chest infection. He was carried out of the venue on a stretcher to an ambulance and taken to hospital where he stayed overnight. Fordham's scheduled opponent, Simon Whitlock from Australia received a walkover into the second round. Fordham's has suffered continual health problems - in November 2004, he pulled out from his 'Battle of the Champions' clash with PDC champion Phill Taylor whilst 2-5 behind. It was the first time a player had withdrawn from a match since the 1979 Championship when Alan Evans pulled out of the third-place play-off, also due to ill-health.

When play started, the three seeded players in action all progressed to the last 16, but John Walton and Paul Hanvidge had struggles on their hands both going through 3-2. Walton, the 2001 champion was taken to deep in the final set by Brian Sørensen, finally progressing by 5 legs to 3. Hanvidge dedicated his victory to his mother, who died on Christmas Day. He was quite emotional in his post-match interview after a 3-2 victory over his good friend, Martin Phillips.

Day Four Tuesday 9 January
The second round of the tournament got underway with the first four matches from the top half of the draw. The top half of the draw had seen few shocks in terms of the seedings with only number nine player, Vincent van der Voort being dispatched in the first round. The trend continued in the second round as Martin Adams (1), Tony Eccles (4), Mervyn King (5) and Ted Hankey (8) all made it to the quarter finals. Hankey was the player who had most difficulty in progressing having to come from 0-2 and 2-3 behind against Davy Richardson. Hankey started the final set with a maximum 170 checkout and went on to beat the qualifier who had been battling the pain of broken ribs in the tournament.

Mike Veitch complained he'd been put off by his opponent Mervyn King shouting whilst he collecting his darts from the board during his 2-4 defeat. King secured a quarter final meeting with Tony Eccles

Day Five Wednesday 10 January
Unseeded Gary Robson came from 1-3 behind to defeat 2001 champion John Walton and reach the last eight at the Lakeside World Championship and it guaranteed a first-time finalist from the bottom half of the draw. The 39-year-old Robson, who beat wonderkid Michael van Gerwen in round one, now plays Dutchman Niels de Ruiter, who beat number six seed Simon Whitlock 4-3.

Phill Nixon, a first time qualifier at the age of 50 added to his victory over seventh seed Martin Atkins with a 4-1 win against tenth seed Martin Atkins. He now faces number 15 seed Paul Hanvidge, who reached the last eight for the second year running by beating Albertino Essers 4-1.

Day Six Thursday 11 January
The first two quarter-finals were settled and top seed Martin Adams saw off former champion Ted Hankey 5-3. Adams took the first two sets, before "The Count" fought back to level. Adams kept in front, with the darts and took the match with a crucial break in the eighth set with a 13-dart leg hitting double five after previously missing five darts to clinch it.

Mervyn King progressed to the semi-finals, by beating number four seed Tony Eccles 5-4. King came from 0-3 behind and hit ten 180s in the match to edge it 5-4. The drama continued in King's post-match interview when he responded to speculation in that morning's newspapers about a possible switch to the PDC. "I nearly packed my darts away and went home," he said. "You nearly didn't have a quarter-final. It was that close."

Day Seven Friday 12 January
The semi-final line-up was completed with the conclusion of the quarter finals. Both games went to the final set with Niels de Ruiter maintaining the Dutch interest in the event, defeating Gary Robson. Robson took the first two sets, then de Ruiter hit two 13, one 14 and one 15 dart leg in his comeback to level.

The deciding leg of the fifth set was amongst the highest standard leg in the history of the Lakeside event. Robson opened with 140, then de Ruiter hit his 5th 180 of the match. Robson's 140 was followed with another 180 leaving a nine-dart opportunity. Robson's ton left 121 and when de Ruiter missed the nine-darter and left himself on 36 for a ten-dart finish, Robson checked out the 121 to go 3-2 up in sets. He took the next set as well but de Ruiter battled back again to level. Robson hit a bullseye and a double 16 to save the match twice in the final set but de Ruiter's sixth dart for the match (at double 18) secured the win.

Phill Nixon, the 150-1 outsider at the start of the tournament, progressed to the semi-final with a narrow 5-4 win over Scotland's Paul Hanvidge. Nixon looked to be coasting to the last four when he led 4-1 but then missed six darts for the match and allowed Hanvidge the chance to get back into it. Nixon hit a 105 finish in the fourth leg of the final set to finally close out the match.

The Women's final followed and despite dropping her first set at Lakeside since the quarter-finals in 2003, Trina Gulliver went on to clinch her seventh successive title and maintain her unbeaten run in the event. Francis Hoenselaar pushed her all the way, and the match went to a sudden-death fifth leg in the final set. Gulliver won the throw for the bull to start the final leg and a 100, 140, 140 start left her in a commanding position to seal the match. She clinched the title with a double 18, her fourth dart for the match.

Day Eight Saturday 13 January
Both semi-finals were played in their traditional Saturday afternoon timeslot and the first match was between number one seed Martin Adams and number five seed Mervyn King. Adams looked to be coasting towards the final when he took a 5-2 set lead, but then King began to fightback with one 12-darter and three 13-darters. When King took six consecutive legs to level the match it looked like Adams had blown his chance to reach the final, just as he'd blown a lead in the final of the World Masters in October. This time he held his nerve by taking all three legs in the deciding set to reach his second world final.

The second semi-final saw Dutchman Niels de Ruiter against the surprise package of the tournament Phill Nixon. Nixon won the first three sets before de Ruiter took the fourth. But Nixon continued his great run and went 5-1 up. De Ruiter then produced a fightback to take the 7th, 8th and 9th sets to trail 4-5. Nixon regained his composure in the 10th set and hit his 14th and 15th 180s during the set to close out the match and reach the final.

Day Nine Sunday 14 January
It was a memorable final with two 50 year-old players battling it out for their first world title. Adams was the strong favourite, having been the number one seed. Nixon was the 150-1 outsider at the start of the event but had beaten a seeded player in each round on the way to the final.

Adams looked like he was going to walk away with an easy victory when he went into the break having taken the first six sets and needing just one to win. Adams then threw for the match at 2-1 in the seventh set. Nixon had other ideas and started to claw his way back into it. Adams missed four darts that could have won him the match and started to look more worried until eventually Nixon drew level.

Nixon threw first in the deciding set and began with a 180, but Adams took the leg out in 12 darts after Nixon narrowly missed a 122 checkout. Adams then held his own throw to once again go within a leg of the title. Nixon once again narrowly missed a chance to hold his throw, this time with double-18 for a 110 checkout, and Adams finished 54 on double 20 to win his first World Championship at the fourteenth time of asking.