Smith dumps out Van Gerwen to move through to semi-finals at US Darts Masters

Neither player played to their capabilities but Smith took advantage of poor play from an out of sorts Van Gerwen to become the first player through to the semi-finals at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

Smith enjoyed an excellent start to proceedings holding his throw and then firing in a 180 and a 71 finish to double his lead early on. He could have had a 3-0 lead but he wired a dart at tops meaning Van Gerwen could sneak in and half the deficit.

MVG though missed doubles himself and allowed Smith to break again which gained him a 3-1 advantage in the tie. Van Gerwen immediately broke back to make it 3-2 and at the interval it was 3-3 with neither player clinical enough to hold on to the lead.

Smith held his throw once again but Van Gerwen asked questions of the St Helens ace by taking out 100 to lead for the first time in the tie at 5-4 up and he added to that lead at 6-4 up with a 14 darter.

'Bully Boy' wasn't done though and held his throw to go 6-5 behind and missed doubles started to creep in for MVG and Smith hit three straight legs to go one away from a shock win.

He completed it in the end breaking the throw in the final leg with a 128 checkout against an out of sorts Van Gerwen. It is a first win over his rival for nearly a year and will be a welcome confidence boost for Smith despite neither player showing anywhere near what they are capable of in the first Quarter-Final.

Click here for more information on the US Darts Masters, the first World Series event of the season.

Quarter-Finals
Michael van Gerwen (88.59) 6-8 (90.27) Michael Smith
20:50 Gary Anderson v Gerwyn Price
21:40 Rob Cross v Nathan Aspinall
22:30 Daryl Gurney v Peter Wright

Semi-Finals
Michael Smith v Anderson/Price
Cross/Aspinall v Gurney/Wright

Final
Winner SF1 v Winner SF2

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