Michael Smith is the latest player through to the knockout stages of the 2021 Grand Slam of Darts after breezing past his former mentor Gary Anderson in a 5-2 win.
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Smith averaged 98.3 in seeing off Anderson meaning that the latter will need to beat Raymond van Barneveld in a bumper clash to move through.
He raced into a 3-0 lead to start the clash sending Anderson into all sorts of bother. Before he found himself back into the contest at 3-2 down capped off with an 87 checkout on the bull.
But this break was immediately pegged back by Smith who went 4-2 up before sealing it with a 13-dart hold with Anderson way back.
Before that, defending champion Jose de Sousa put himself in pole position in Group F by edging past Mensur Suljovic 5-4.
Both players exchanged early breaks with Suljovic in particular pinning a 106 to make it 1-1.
But in typical De Sousa fashion, it was two double 20's for an 80 checkout to go 2-1 up. He held throw from there for a 3-1 lead only for a 101 checkout for Suljovic to see him just one behind at 3-2.
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De Sousa surged ahead again though with a hold to make it 4-2 before a break of throw from Suljovic on double 16 saw him make it 4-4 and it went all the way to a decider.
In the end, it was De Sousa who edged through claiming a 76 checkout to see off the Austrian.
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𝗝𝗢𝗦𝗘 𝗖𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗖𝗛𝗘𝗦 𝗜𝗧! 🇵🇹
It was looking like neither player wanted to win that deciding leg, but it's Jose de Sousa who secures the two points, defeating Mensur Suljovic 5-4!