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JAMES WADE 3 – 2 Simon Whitlock

James Wade moved into the semi-finals of the World Grand Prix in Dublin after defeating Simon Whitlock in a thrilling match on Friday evening.

The two-time winner of the double-start tournament took out a brilliant 101 finish to win a last leg decider, edging an exciting encounter to progress to the last four.

Wade continues his pursuit of an eighth major title when he meets Phil Taylor in the semi-finals on Saturday.

Whitlock took the opening leg with the aid of his first 180 but Wade levelled on double top.

‘The Machine’ set off in the third leg with a maximum opening score of 160 but ‘The Wizard’ took out 70 to edge ahead.

Wade then cleaned up 86 to square up the set again before a neat 78 finish from Whitlock gave him the early advantage.

Wade hit back, producing a 106 checkout to move ahead in the second, which he went on to win by three legs to one, taking out 44 and 65 along the way.

Whitlock won all three legs in set three though, as he wrestled back a set advantage in the match.

The pair shared the first two legs in the fourth set before Wade fired in a superb 160 finish, but when he missed the bull for the set Whitlock picked off 65 to move a leg away from victory.

The Australian then missed a dart at bull for the match, with Wade stepping in to bed tops to force a deciding set.

The left-hander scored his fourth maximum in the first leg but it was Whitlock who drew first blood with a 90 finish.

‘The Machine’ pegged double ten to level but his opponent again moved within a leg of the win by pinning double five.

Wade stepped up to fire in back to back 180s as he took the match to a final leg shoot-out, which he won in style with a clinical kill of 101.

By Chris Murphy