Van Gerwen outclasses brave De Sousa to keep hopes of 6th Masters title alive

The final man to book his spot in the quarter-finals of the PDC Masters is Michael van Gerwen after a 10-7 win in Milton Keynes over Jose de Souse.

With the eighth and final Masters quarter-final spot up for grabs it was van Gerwen who took a comfortable opening leg before the Portuguese number one answered back with a hold of his own on double top in leg two. Despite de Sousa doing his best to hang in there, van Gerwen had begun by far the better player leading at the first break 4-1, averaging over 20 points higher than his opponent.

De Sousa kept in touch with a classy 121 finish on double 18 in the first leg back after the break and after van Gerwen missed 5 darts to hold throw in the next leg, de Sousa gleefully pulled back to one behind. Putting the disappointment of his missed opportunity to the back of his mind, van Gerwen regained control of the encounter, reeling off the next three legs to lead 6-3 before de Sousa again kept in touch thanks to a 120 out. 6-4 to the former three-time World Champ at the interval.

Despite van Gerwen seemingly being the much better player, de Sousa refused to give in, staying within a solitary break of throw of the Dutchman. As the Special One nailed double 12 to get back to 8-6 behind the time was running out for the Portuguese to get that much-needed break. Van Gerwen would hold in the 15th leg to move one away from victory.

However after Mighty Mike missed two match darts for a 10-6 win, de Sousa kept the tie alive thanks to a double 10. In truth van Gerwen's victory never really seemed in doubt though and despite de Sousa throwing in back-to-back maximums to put the pressure on, van Gerwen nailed double top for the 10-7 win sealing a date with Rob Cross in the last eight.