Ronnie rockets to the quarter finals at Ally Pally

30/12/2009

Ronnie moved to the quarter finals of the 2010 Labrokes.com World Darts Championships after defeating Colin Lloyd 4-1. He will now have the chance to avenge last years third round defeat against Dutch star Raymond van Barneveld, who came through his game against Kevin Painter 4-1. More to follow....

Ronnie won the first leg of the match with a 64 finish but allowed Lloyd to level after missing a dart at double top. Colin then broke throw in the third leg by hitting double 10 but he wasted three opportunities to win the set in the next and Baxter equaled by hitting double top. The deciding leg was a tense affair that saw Lloyd miss another chance to win the set - double 15 for a 110 checkout before Ronnie hit double top to nick the set and open up an early lead.

Baxter won the first two legs of the second set and hit a maximum in the third leg but Lloyd won it by hitting a 94 finish. But Baxter won the fourth leg with an accomplished 80 checkout for a two sets lead.

Both players held their throws in the opening two legs of the third set before Lloyd, converted an superb 130 checkout to win the third against the darts. Baxter immediately broke-back to win the fourth leg and won the decider by hitting double 13 after Lloyd was guilty of missing two darts at doubles to win the set for himself.

That put Ronnie 3-0 ahead and in complete command of the game and he won the first leg of the fourth set with an 81 finish, before Lloyd hit back to win the second by recording an 82 checkout. Lloyd also won the third leg, capitalising on a missed dart at double top from his opponent. The deciding leg also went in Lloyd's favour as he hit a two-dart 74 to win the set and get into the game.

The Essex man hit a 14-dart finish at the beginning of the fifth set before Baxter set up a nine-dart finish after hitting a 180, followed by a 174. That left the seventh seed with 147 left and he successfully hit the treble 20, but was off-target with his attempt at treble 17. The magical nine darter was not to be but he won the leg in 10 darts which was followed by winning the next to go one leg away from the match. And the 48-year-old confirmed victory by hitting double top after Lloyd missed four chances to keep the match alive.

"I kept plodding along and never really had to get into top gear," said Baxter. "Colin can throw much better than that. He let me in many times and I kept taking my chances - which gave me the edge."