Mensur Suljovic upset the odds as he reached his first World Matchplay final. ‘The Gentle’ defeated an out of sorts Peter Wright 17-13 in the semi finals.
Wright was first to break in the third leg as he punished a missed dart at the bull from Suljovic by hitting tops. Suljovic, however, responded with a clinical 87-finish in two darts to break back. The pair then continued to break the other’s throw with big finishes of 70, 136 and 84. After trading some blows, the Austrian took a 6-4 lead into the second commercial break.
Suljovic remained in front and expanded his advantage to 9-6 after the next five legs. ‘Snakebite’ then took the next two, before missing 121 on the bull to level as Suljovic moved 10-8 up. Another two consecutive legs from the world number two then did level the game at 10 all.
A successful attempt at D12 and a brilliant 151-finish saw ‘The Gentle’ restore his two leg advantage as he moved within five legs of the final. Suljovic then missed D7 to gain a double break, but successfully stepped in when he was given another chance after Wright missed two at doubles.
With the finish line in sight, Suljovic missed six darts at doubles to lead 15-10, with the Scot taking seemingly his last chance by making it 14-11. Wright, however, could not capitalize on more double trouble from his opponent three legs later as Suljovic hit D3 for 16-12. Wright then started scoring well and took the next leg, but missed darts at doubles would prove costly. The Austrian punished and struck his favorite D14 to reach his maiden Matchplay final.
Click here for more information about the World Matchplay. The prize fund breakdown for this tournament can be found here.
2018 BetVictor World Matchplay
Semi-Finals
Peter Wright (88.68) 13-17 (90.16) Mensur Suljovic
Jeffrey de Zwaan v Gary Anderson
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