Michael Smith edges Rob Cross in tight contest to reach Grand Slam of Darts Quarter-Finals for the 4th straight year

Michael Smith is in to the Quarter-Finals of this years Grand Slam of Darts after a 10-8 victory over a battling Rob Cross in Wolverhampton.

Despite having just 5 career wins vs Rob Cross, it was last year's beaten Semi-Finalist Michael Smith who cleaned up 72 for a break of throw in the opening leg and despite Cross finally sparking into life with a 174 to leave D8, Smith would clean up 97 for a 2-0 lead. After Smith missed four darts at D16 in leg 5, Cross would wire D18 for a 116 finish allowing Bully Boy to return and secure a 4-1 lead at the first break.

A 66 finish in the first leg of the second session would give Cross a break back, keeping him in touch. As the old saying goes however, a break is only a break if you hold and Cross couldn't hold as Smith restored his 2-break advantage at 5-2. Voltage had definitely upped his game though, averaging 4 points higher than Smith despite finishing the second session 6-4 behind.

With Cross needing a break to have a chance, Michael Smith went into top gear on his own throw going 180, 147, 40 out to hold throw in 12 darts. With Cross looking certain to at least get a dart to pull back to within a leg, Voltage missed the big 19, helplessly looking on as Smith punished emphatically to stretch his lead to 8-5.

Refusing to give up, Cross would not go away and a brilliant 104 finish from the 2018 World Champ got it back to 7-8. Nailing his favourite D18 in the following leg, Cross was back on level terms for the first time since the start of the match. Summing up this see-saw encounter, Cross could only muster a score of 11 when trying to take out 156, leaving Smith to pin 82 in 2 darts and go to the hill, just one leg away from victory. A 77 finish on tops in the following leg would see Bully Boy finally finish off Cross and confirm his place in the Quarter-Finals for the 4th year running.