Scott Williams shocks the world to upset Michael van Gerwen and reach the World Darts Championship semi-finals

Scott Williams has caused one of the biggest upsets in the history of the World Darts Championship to send home the tournament favourite Michael van Gerwen 5-3 with an incredible performance at the Alexandra Palace, reaching the semi-finals.

With van Gerwen a lot more nervy than would have been expected at the start of the match, the Dutchman was unable to nail a double in the opening set, missing darts for all three legs. Williams for his part, was on hand to punish each time, moving into a 1-0 lead.

Set 2 saw the three-time world champion settle. Finally getting off the mark, van Gerwen was able to level up the match. Winning the set 3-1, van Gerwen capped his impressive spell with an 11-dart leg.

Williams though, continued to battle away. Working hard in set 3, a deciding leg was needed to decide the set. 'Shaggy' had the darts in the fifth leg and was first to a double. Five set darts came and went for the Englishman though with van Gerwen punishing and celebrating with a big roar.

With no break after the third set where Williams could refocus, van Gerwen would have been a big favourite to rattle off the next set to but that's not how things turned out. It was Williams who raced through set 4 in straight sets to level the tie.

'Shaggy' continued to trouble van Gerwen as well and managed to nudge back in front by taking set 5 on the darts, going to within just two sets of a massive upset and reaching the World Darts Championship semi-finals.

As the momentum continued to see-saw one way and then the other, it was van Gerwen's time for a positive spell in set 6, taking the set 3-0 was relative comfort to get back onto level terms.

A win for Williams had extra meaning for the Englishman as not only would it take him to the semi-finals of the World Championships but also launch him into the world's top-32. With both players trading holds of throw in the first three legs of set 7, Williams broke the throw in the fourth leg to move 4-3 ahead in sets.

After van Gerwen missed four darts in the opening leg of set 8, Williams was unable to punish allowing van Gerwen to finally secure it via double 1. Williams though was again unflustered by this potential setback, reeling off the next two legs to move one from victory. With the throw, Williams was not to be denied, sealing a fabulous victory with his first match dart.