Awesome Anderson punishes wasteful Bunting to set up Van Veen tie in Grand Slam of Darts quarterfinals

The quarter-final lineup at the 2024 Grand Slam of Darts is now complete. The eighth and final man to book a spot being Gary Anderson after a 10-6 win over Stephen Bunting.

To get to the knockout stages, Anderson emerged as group winner after victories over Ryan Joyce (5-1), Michael van Gerwen (5-4) and Noa-Lynn van Leuven (5-4). Bunting meanwhile finished second in the group of death. 'The Bullet' lost to an unleashed Gian van Veen, but did pick up wins against Wessel Nijman (5-4) and Josh Rock (5-2). With averages of 103.02, 104.17 and 106.66, the Englishman also showed he is in top form.

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In a tight opening session, there wasn't much to separate the pair. Both averaging around the 95 mark, neither had yet hit top gear but thanks to some poor finishing on the outer ring by Bunting, Anderson survived a couple of close calls to lead 3-2 at the break.

Seizing the momentum, The Flying Scotsman continued to pick up steam in the second session. With a 15 darter and a 13 darter, Anderson move 5-2 up. Then after more missed darts by Bunting, Anderson punished again to make it 6-2. In leg 9 it was the same story, this time double 18 and double 9 were missed by Bunting, with Anderson on hand to make it five legs on the spin for the Scot. Despite some unconvincing doubling of his own in the final leg of the second session, Anderson mopped up on double 3 to make it 8-2 at the interval.

Bunting finally stopped the rot in the opener of the third session, nailing a nervy double 2 last dart in hand, getting a break back in the process. After Anderson missed a dart at Bull to make it 9-3, Bunting nailed double 12 for a 15 darter and another leg back. A dart at double came and went for Anderson in the next leg too, this time at double 8, allowing Bunting to get back to 8-5. After Bunting then wired a dart at double 18 for 8-6 though, Anderson made no mistake, pinning a sensational 138 to move one leg away from victory.

At his first chance of victory though, Anderson could not capitalize, missing two darts at double 12, with Bunting seizing his opportunity keep himself alive. A few moments later though, the victory was sealed by Anderson with a 103 checkout, setting up a mouthwatering quarter-final tie with the in-form Gian van Veen.

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