Friday 23 December 2011

JUSTIN PIPE 4-3 WES NEWTON

JUSTIN PIPE came out on top in a titanic two-hour battle against Wes Newton with a gritty 4-3 win in the second round of the Ladbrokes World Darts Championship.

UK Open finalist Newton won the first two sets and looked on course to record a place in the last 16 of the competition after taking command early on.

But Pipe won the next three sets to lead 3-2, and after Newton took the sixth to force a decider he emerged victorious by winning the final set 4-2 to the send the number seven seed crashing out of the tournament.

"I said to myself that I wasn't doing a lot wrong when I was 2-0 down," said Pipe, who was seeded 26 and now faces either Terry Jenkins or Co Stompe in the third round after Christmas.

"I sharpened up my doubles and Wes seemed to lose his way. It was tough, but I ground out the win, and I'm delighted to have done so."

Both players held throw in the opening two legs of the match before two missed darts at double ten proved costly for Pipe in the third, as Newton hit a clinical 115 finish to break.

Newton was off-target with a dart at double 18 to win the set in the next leg, which Pipe won double four to level, but the deciding leg saw the Taunton ace pay for two misses at double 16 to win the set, as his opponent landed tops with a pressure third dart to edge ahead.

Fleetwood's Newton hit double six to win the opening leg of set two, after Pipe was guilty of missing six opportunities at doubles, before the in-form star hit back to take the second.

Newton won the third with an excellent 125 checkout and hit his third 180 of the game in the next leg before taking out 86 to increase his lead to 2-0.

Newton started the third set in style with a fantastic 161 checkout before Pipe took the second leg and then hit back-to-back 180s in the third, to leave the opportunity of a nine-dart finish.

The seventh attempt at a treble 20 was off-target, but the leg was still won for the man from Taunton with an accurate dart at double nine.

Newton hit a 14-dart finish to take the fourth leg, but Pipe bettered that in the decider with a 13-darter to take the set.

Pipe secured a break of throw at the start of the fourth set with a 14-darter and landed double two to take the second leg.

Newton hit double top to take the third leg, but Pipe converted a 64 finish for another 14-darter to win the set and level the match.

The seventh seed hit a superb 170 checkout, the second of the evening at Alexandra Palace following Adrian Lewis's earlier achievement, to make a winning start to the fifth set, with Pipe waiting on a two-darter.

Pipe missed four darts at doubles to take the second leg, but Newton missed two chances of his own, allowing him back to level on double five.

Pipe won the third leg with a 62 finish and took the fourth with an impressive 13-darter to win the set and lead the match for the first time.

Pipe won his fourth straight leg at the start of set six, before Newton stopped the rot to take the next with the aid of fifth maximum.

Newton then managed to recapture the form of the first two sets, as he hit double eight to win the third leg in 14 darts and tops to seal the set after Pipe missed two darts at the same double.

Pipe hit double ten to make a positive start to the seventh set, but missed three chances for a break of throw, allowing Newton to level on double 16.

The third leg saw Newton miss one dart at double top, and Pipe landed double two with a pressure last dart to move a leg away from victory.

Double eight from Newton levelled, but Pipe took the fifth on double eight before punishing six misses from his opponent to seal an epic win on double 16.

"It's brilliant," said Pipe. "After my match against Sean Reed I was just glad to win that match, which was my goal this year, and I'm over the moon to be in the last 16.

"A little bit of my floor form came out up on stage so I'm very happy.

"Wes was flustered because he missed doubles and his scoring went off the boil for a couple of legs. Wes knows how I play the game and I actually sped up a little bit tonight.

"Without being disrespectful to Wes, that's his problem and he - and everybody - has to deal with that because they know how I play and that I want to concentrate with every dart."

Newton admitted: "I was trying my best but the pace of the game killed me.

"I was frustrated with the pace of the game and it's hard to take sometimes, but I've got to learn from that and get over it.

"I feel like I'm a better player than Justin and it's the pace of the game that cost me that.

"He's a slow player and it does affect you, I'm a quick player and like to get on with the game but you've got to keep your focus and concentration and it got to me sometimes.

"I've made big strides this year and I've got to take the positives from it and have another good year in 2012, and try and come back here next year and produce the goods."

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