It was the surprise of the quarter-finals of the World Darts Championship, the elimination of Michael van Gerwen as he went down 5-3 to Scott Williams.
The elimination also came as a huge surprise to Wayne Mardle, himself a former semi-finalist at the World Championship and currently commentator and analyst for Sky Sports. "It's a massive shock. Michael was 1/25 on to win the game. As shocks go that's nigh-on as big as they come," Mardle reflected for Sky Sports post-match. "Van Gerwen normally loses to someone that is a big hitter already but Scott Williams did a number on him. In every stat you look at, he was better. Michael van Gerwen had an off night, yes, but Williams was there to clean up and he held it together so well.
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Williams will now take on Luke Humphries in the semi-finals. Does Mardle believe 'Shaggy' can replicate his victory over van Gerwen? "If he plays similar, he's got a chance," Mardle previews. "But it's like when Phil Taylor used to go out, it opens up the tournament for everybody."
On van Gerwen, Mardle was shocked by just how erratic the Dutchman was. "That was one of those performance you seldom see from Michael van Gerwen on that stage," he assesses. "It was the most erratic I've ever seen. There was only one set where he averaged over a ton in eight sets. That's unusual for Michael.
"We've seen a couple of times this year, some ropey games like when he lost to Brendan Dolan (World Matchplay ed.), he was poor then. The difference is nowadays, people like Scott Williams and Brendan Dolan, they're good enough to win. Gone are the days where he could play poorly and get through. The darting landscape now is just so good, every player is capable of beating Michael van Gerwen."
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