PHIL "The Power" Taylor made light work of Kevin Painter to secure his place in the quarter-finals of the Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace.
Taylor ominously swept the nervy-looking 17th seed aside 4-1, having broken the match open with a run of ten consecutive legs after Painter had won the opening set.
It was a performance to give Taylor hope of claiming his first title at this tourn
ament since 2006 and add to his record tally of 11 PDC crowns.
A maximum from Painter enabled him to clinch the opening set against Taylor's throw, but Painter's hopes of building on that advantage were soon lost, however, as he lost his first throw of the second set. The Daventry man twice missed the chance to clinch the second leg and Taylor capitalised to tie the match at 1-1.
Taylor then broke in the first leg of the third set as he embarked on his ten-leg streak. Taylor claimed the break with a double top and ominously followed that up immediately with a maximum to assert his authority.
Painter's composure was lost as he then twice more missed chances to stay in the set, allowing Taylor to comfortably secure the third set 3-0.
The wind was now in Taylor's sails and he wrapped up the fourth set with his ninth consecutive leg in a row. Painter showed some fight in the fifth set, twice hitting maximums, but it was too little, too late as Taylor clinched the win 3-1.
Taylor will meet the winner of today's match between eighth seed Wayne Mardle and Co Stompe in the quarter-finals.
In other matches, world No.3 James Wade progressed to the third round with a 4-2 win against Tony Eccles.
Next up for Wade will be Dutchman Vincent van der Voort after he beat Colin Osborne 4-1.
Paul Nicholson caused a shock when he ousted sixth seed Adrian Lewis 4-3 in their second-round match.
Nicholson will meet Dennis Priestley in the third round after he defeated John MaGowan 4-1.
In the final match of yesterday's play, Barrie Bates completed a 4-0 win over 20th seed Mark Dudbridge.
The full article contains 378 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
