Michael van Gerwen swept to a 6-2 win over Raymond van Barneveld with a masterful display at the PDC World Darts Championship and will face defending champion Gary Anderson in Monday’s final at Alexandra Palace.
Van Gerwen and his fellow Dutchman maintained a breathtaking standards throughout, with 'Mighty Mike' producing a tournament-record average of 114.05 in a sensational semi-final that also saw 29 maximums.
Van Barneveld took a 1-0 lead courtesy of 107, 131 and 96 checkouts to take the opening three legs but that did not affect Van Gerwen, who responded by taking the next leg with a 124 finish before sealing the set to level the scores.
The two shared the next two sets before 27-year-old Van Gerwen stepped up another gear to leave his opponent in his wake, despite the number 12 seed averaging over 109 in the match.
An 11-dart finish helped Van Gerwen to take the fifth set and a checkout of 47 secured the sixth as he moved 4-2 up before the world number one won five of the next seven legs to stun Van Barneveld, sealing victory with two double 18s.
STATS | Michael van Gerwen is a record breaker yet again. Here are the stats from his match against Raymond van Barneveld.#WHDarts pic.twitter.com/zJWCYJz5SI
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) January 1, 2017
He will face Anderson, who stayed on course to retain his title by beating Peter Wright 6-3 to reach his third successive final.
'The Flying Scotsman' came charging out of the blocks, winning five straight legs to kick off the contest as he stormed into a two-set lead in the best-of-11 match - which included a 127 checkout.
Wright hit back to halve the deficit courtesy of a 10-dart finish, however he could not convert that momentum as he missed six darts at doubles to let Anderson hit a 118 checkout en route to sealing the fourth set.
Wright won the next 3-2 in a nail-biting fifth set before levelling by taking the sixth by the same scoreline. But Anderson hit back by taking out a wonderful 157 checkout to nick the seventh.
Anderson stepped up a gear, reeling off the next three legs to leave him one set away from yet another final and a deflated Wright was unable to stop the 46-year-old defending champion from wrapping up victory in the ninth.
STATS | Gary Anderson will defend his title tomorrow night after beating Peter Wright. Here are the stats from @3dartanalyst.#WHDarts pic.twitter.com/zNMjTRfMDo
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) January 1, 2017
