Caris & Heydon Win

SWEDEN'S Magnus Caris and Leamington Spa's Nigel Heydon have won through to the William Hill Grand Slam of Darts in Friday's Wildcard Qualifier at the K3 Centre in Crawley.

The duo complete the field for the £400,000 tournament, which will be held from November 12-20 at the Wolverhampton Civic Hall and screened live on Sky Sports HD.

A field of 240 players played off in Crawley for the two spots in the Grand Slam, with former World Champions Dennis Priestley, Richie Burnett, Jelle Klaasen and Andy Fordham in action alongside dozens of amateur hopefuls.

Priestley defeated Burnett in his run to the quarter-finals, but ran out of steam as Swedish veteran Caris - a semi-finalist in the 1994 Embassy Championship - took a 4-0 victory.

Caris, 42, then overcame Ireland's Keith Rooney 6-3 to win through to make his Grand Slam of Darts debut, two years after ensuring a return to the big-time when he qualified for the first of two successive World Championship appearances.

"This means a huge amount for me and it's a massive moment in my career," said Caris, who hails from Solna in Sweden. "It's been a very hard night and I had to play beyond my normal level to win through, so I'm very pleased."

Leamington Spa-based Heydon, an undertaker by trade, defeated Stoke's Ian White 6-3 in their semi-final to join Caris in making a Grand Slam of Darts debut next weekend.

Heydon came through three matches 4-3 in reaching the latter stages, edging past Belgium's Kim Huybrechts, Brian Woods and Colin Lloyd, before a win over White saw him seal his Grand Slam place.

"I'm absolutely delighted," said Heydon. "It's nice for me to get back on TV and it will be great to play in the Grand Slam of Darts.

"I had to really play well. I rode my luck at times, like when Colin Lloyd had darts to beat me, but it's fantastic to be through."

White later defeated Rooney 6-1 in a third-place play-off to earn himself the tag of first reserve for the Grand Slam.

There was disappointment for world number 13 Lloyd, the highest ranked player in the PDC Order of Merit who will not be competing in Wolverhampton, after he missed darts in two legs to defeat Heydon.

Ronnie Baxter, Andy Hamilton, Colin Osborne, Jamie Caven and Denis Ovens were other players from within the world's top 20 to miss out on a place in Wolverhampton.

Former World Matchplay champion Peter Evison, three-time major finalist Shayne Burgess and Chris Mason all suffered first round losses, alongside former World Champion Andy Fordham.

Baxter was defeated at the second round stage by Shaun Griffiths, who followed up his run to the semi-finals of the PDC Unicorn World Youth Championship by reaching the last 16 of the Wildcard Qualifier before being defeated by Dennis Priestley.