Vintage van Barneveld rolls back the years to dethrone Gerwyn Price and seal Semi-Final spot at Grand Slam of Darts after an epic encounter

Raymond van Barneveld will face Michael Smith in the Grand Slam of Darts semi-final after overcoming Gerwyn Price 16-13 in an epic encounter.

Nevermind the van Barneveld of old, this could have been one of the Dutch legends greatest ever performances as he ended the reign of Gerwyn Price at the Grand Slam of Darts thanks to a 99.6 average and 6 180s.

With Gerwyn Price out for revenge after defeat to Barney in the group stage, the crowd was hyped for this one. The chant of "Barney Army" was ringing around the arena as van Barneveld wired the bullseye for an opening leg break of throw before Price checked out 58 to get up and running. After Price broke to take the 2nd leg, Barney sparked into life with a 10-darter to break straight back and after taking out D13, third dart in hand in the following leg it was all square at 2-2. An 80 checkout from Price gave him a 3-2 lead at the break and the first roar of the match.

Barney, averaging north of 108, nailed a 12-dart hold to level things up after the break. Price though wasn't overawed by van Barneveld rolling back the years, the Iceman winning the remaining four legs of the session to race into a 7-3 lead and silence the pro-Barney crowd in the process.

The 3-time Grand Slam champion continued his roll in the third session, making it five in a row by taking out 56 and stretching his lead to five legs. van Barneveld kept himself alive, taking out finishes of 64 and 32 to win and get back within touching distance at 5-8. As the crowd grew louder once again, Barney responded, holding throw in 11 darts for a third straight leg and when Price missed 3 darts for the final leg of the session the 2012 Grand Slam champ punished to pull to just one behind with the score 8-7 in Price's favour at the break.

2 more darts were missed by Price in the first leg back and it was all of a sudden 8-8. Barney had answered Price's 5-leg spurt with one of his own. Another 2 Price misses in the following gifted van Barneveld a 6th straight leg and more importantly a 9-8 lead. A moment later it was 7 in a row as Barney took out an utterly sublime 157 finish. Then as the crowd reached fever pitch, van Barneveld wired a 170 only for Price to stop the rot amidst a chorus of boos on D20. With the Dutchman taking the final leg before the interval, we'd enter the final break with the score at 11-9 to van Barneveld.

With both players exchanging holds of throw after the break, van Barneveld threw a 12-dart break to stretch his lead to 3 clear legs and move just 3 from a famous victory. With a couple of Barney misses in the 24th leg going unpunished, the Dutchman wouldn't give Price a second chance, making it 14-10.

With Price holding throw to get back to 14-11 the momentum seemed to swing yet again in this rollercoaster of a match. A break of the van Barneveld throw followed, then another hold and suddenly the World no1 was back to just a leg behind. After Price set up D20 after 12 darts for a level game there was immense pressure on Barney's 71 checkout but you could have never guessed as he coolly nailed the finish. After wiring D18 for a 156 match winner, van Barneveld would return and successfully claim one of the greatest wins of the great Dutchman's long and storied career.