Phil Taylor will play James Wade in the Sky Bet Mobile World Matchplay final in Blackpool on Sunday.
Taylor booked his place by beating Andy Hamilton 17-9 at the Winter Gardens on Saturday night.In a Stoke derby, 'The Power' was quickly into his stride - hammering the double 16 to build a 5-2 lead and leave his opponent reeling.
'The Hammer' gamely fought back to 6-4 - hitting bullseye for a finish that brought the house down on the way - but Taylor pulled away again with some heavy scoring and clinical finishing.
As Hamilton threatened another resurgence from 11-9 down, Taylor produced his best darts for a checkout of 116 and a three-leg lead.
Despite racking up only three maximums to Hamilton's 10, Taylor's finishing was the deciding factor and he casually moved 16-9 ahead and to the brink of victory with two bullseye finishes.
The match was sewn up in the next leg - Taylor making no mistake with one dart at double-top to ensure his place in the final.
"I would love to win this," Taylor said. "I'm absolutely over the moon to be in the final. After the year I've had I'm just pleased to qualify for the final. It's a strong field now and it's tough."
Hoping for higher
Taylor ended with a 105 average but is expecting to need better in the final."I hope for higher I need to hit higher in the final. I may even need to hit nine-darter to win it with no missing doubles otherwise I may get punished," he added.
Taylor will face Wade after he later beat reigning world champion Adrian Lewis 17-10.
Wade, the 2007 champion, reached his fourth final in style as a lacklustre Lewis struggled to put up a fight.
Wade won five legs on the spin at a crucial stage before winning it with a 127 checkout.
"It feels a bit awful because Adrian didn't do what he can do. Still I play to win and I didn't have much to beat," Wade said.
Although Wade's scoring hasn't been a match for the pre-tournament favourite, he remains confident.
"I don't think anybody has pushed Phil yet. Lots of people that don't play the game think it's all about hitting 110 averages but it's not," Wade added.
"There are other ways of beating Phil Taylor and that's doing things at the right time. Am I the person to do that? Yes I am.
"Will I? Who knows, but I wouldn't want to play me and I think I'm one of the few Phil wouldn't want to play."
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