‘Morningside Arena crowd was against me,’ but Price prevails
GERWYN Price powered into the semi-finals of the BoyleSports World Grand Prix with a 3-0 win over Dave Chisnall, but the Welshman was far from happy with his treatment from the crowd at the Morningside Arena, Leicester, writes Paul Mason.
The world number one and defending Grand Prix champion took advantage of yet another slow start from “Chizzy”, who allowed Price to take the first five legs of the contest.
Chisnall did respond with a 118 finish and pinned double ten to level the second set, but Price superbly rattled in a 104 checkout to double his advantage.
“Iceman” Price then pounced on mistakes and misses from his opponent, and reeled off three straight legs from 1-0 down in the third, including a 100 finish, to seal his place in the last four.
Price wasn’t impressed with his treatment from the Leicester crowd, though, telling Sky Sports: “It was a difficult game with the crowd against me.”
Price was last night facing Stephen Bunting in a rematch of their 2021 World Championship semi-final meeting, won by Price on the way to winning the title.
At the Morninside Arena, Bunting got the better of a see-saw battle with Ryan Searle, coming through 3-1.
In the other action, Jonny Clayton edged out Krzysztof Ratajski 3-2, to set up a meeing with Danny Noppert, who booked his last four place with a 3-1 win over Ian White.
Finishes of 116 and 80 in set four sealed another impressive win for the Dutchman.
“I can’t believe I’m in the semi-finals,” said Noppert. “I played brilliant this game and I’m really happy with my own performance.
“My finishing is going well, this crowd is amazing. My performances are really steady so far.”
For last night’s semi-finals at a sold-out Morningside Arena, the format was extended to the best of seven sets.
The tournament is being broadcast live on Sky Sports, as well as through the PDC’s international broadcast partners, including DAZN and RTL7, and through PDCTV for rest of the world subscribers.