Stowe Buntz’s fairy tale at the Grand Slam of Darts is over. In front of a frenzied audience, Steven Bunting was too strong for the American with 16-8. There was also plenty of spectacle at the oche in Wolverhampton on Friday evening.
Buntz had an excellent year in the United States and qualified for both the Grand Slam and the World Cup at the end of December. He proved that he belongs there this week in England. The 44-year-old colorful darts player defeated Steven Bunting and Peter Wright in the group stage and pushed aside Andrew Gilding in the eighth finals.
The second clash with Bunting went less well for Buntz. He could compete with Bunting for a long time, but continuously threw a lower average. With the score at 6-6, Bunting attacked to 11-6. He never gave up the lead.
He will face former world champion Rob Cross in the semi-finals on Sunday. He defeated Damon Heta with clear figures, who tied with Cross to a score of 6-6. But the Australian then completely abandoned it. Nothing went well anymore and mentally he was having an increasingly difficult time. Cross won no fewer than ten legs in a row and won the match 16-6.
The first quarter-finals on Friday evening provided plenty of spectacle. James Wade needed all 31 legs to beat former youth world champion Josh Rock. The experienced Englishman seemed to lose control of the match at the end and faced a 12-15 deficit.
But TheMachine is known for his high average in decisive legs and fought back to a 16-15 win. Wade is in the semi-finals of the Grand Slam for the fifth time in his career.
The spectators also got their money’s worth at the match between Luke Humphries and Gary Anderson. Both dart players set an extremely high level. Former world champion Anderson quickly took a 5-1 and 4-8 lead, but his English opponent did not budge. Step by step, thanks in part to no fewer than thirteen 180s, Humphries came back into the match.
In the final leg, Anderson impressively put pressure on Humphries with a series of finishes above 100. Still, Cool Hand Luke score and brought the match to a 16-14 final score with an average of 103.56 and a finishing percentage of 60 percent.
The semi-finals with four English players are on Sunday afternoon. The final will be played on Sunday evening.
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