MERVYN KING 5-3 JAMES HUBBARD

MERVYN KING was made to work hard before overcoming James Hubbard with a 5-3 victory in the William Hill Grand Slam of Darts at the Wolverhampton Civic Hall.

King, who lost to Steve Beaton in his opening Group E clash, will take on Phil Taylor on Wednesday evening in his final round-robin contest.

"I've probably got to beat Phil on Wednesday to qualify and that's going to be a big challenge," said King. "My form over the last 12 months has been under-par but I'll be giving it my best shot."

King made an excellent start the game, hitting a 180 in the opening leg, followed by 101 checkout for a 12-dart finish to break throw.

But King failed to build on that advantage as he missed six darts at doubles and Hubbard nicked the second by landing double five with his last dart to level.Hubbard then took out double top at the first time of asking to lead 2-1 but King hit a clinical 14-darter to square the match at two apiece.

King was guilty of missing six more darts to take the fifth and the youngster capitalised again by hitting double four to lead for a second time.

King pegged back by taking the sixth leg and then took the seventh to lead 4-3 with a 62 finish after Hubbard missed a dart at double top to take the leg himself.

The eighth leg saw King produce consistent high scoring and he converted a 62 finish for the third time in the contest to end Hubbard's challenge.