Michael van Gerwen storms into World Darts Championship final after beating plucky Nathan Aspinal
MICHAEL VAN GERWEN stormed into his third PDC World Darts final in four years and remains on course to defend the crown for the first time.
The world No1 beat plucky Nathan Aspinall 6-3 in a scrappy semi-final at the William Hill PDC World Darts Championship.
Van Gerwen, a three-time world champion, has never retained the Sid Waddell trophy but he now has the chance to join a small group of players who have achieved the feat.
Only Phil Taylor, Adrian Lewis and Gary Anderson have come back to Ally Pally 12 months later as world champion and defended the title.
Ever since the draw was made last month, the 30-year-old has been the overwhelming favourite to win a fourth crown on New Year’s Day.
Though he has not played consistently at his usual electrifying standards, he has not really been tested in his previous four matches, dropping just three sets en route to the semis.
Aspinall, a punchy character and confident talker, was always going to present a different proposition and the relative newcomer showed his mettle in the early stages.
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The Asp, playing in a second successive world semi-final, hit a 124 finish in the first leg of the second set.
And then the Stockport thrower took advantage of missed doubles from Van Gerwen to draw level at 2-2 with a stunning 110 finish.
The game was well and truly on. Van Gerwen was under the pump like never before and Aspinall’s confidence was rising with every throw.
So it was no surprise that when the Dutchman won the fifth set he let out an aggressive, prolonged celebration before the TV ad break.
The sixth set was a 3-0 whitewash and it appeared as if Mighty Mike was going to roll him over quickly and emphatically.
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Aspinall, 28, made sure that did not happen, winning the seventh set and hitting a brilliant 107 for good measure in the eighth set.
Yet any chance of an incredible fightback was quickly dismissed with Van Gerwen progressing with a double five.
Van Gerwen, normally a power-scorer, hit only THREE 180s, and he will have to improve his average of 96.34 considerably if he is to continue his excellent record against Peter Wright on Wednesday evening.