Wright falls in semis

Peter Wright once again fell victim to Dutch ace Michael van Gerwen in the latest round of the Masters series.

The Livingston-born ace suffered an 11-6 defeat in the semi-finals at the Sydney Darts Masters in Australia over the weekend.

The 46-year-old Snakebite struggled from the start and was quickly 8-1 down before he threatened a comeback with finishes of 121 and 156 as he reduced the gap to 8-4.

But he could not kick on from there as van Gerwen proved too strong, eventually sealing his place in the final in the 17th leg.

Wright reached the final four with a comfortable 10-4 win over Rhys Matthewson in the quarter-final, having scored an impressive 6-2 victory over Aussie ace Simon Whitlock in the opening round.

Phil Taylor took the title with an 11-9 win over van Gerwen in the final.

The World Series stays in Australia this week as it moves to Perth.

Wright goes into the event as the seventh seed, which will see him take on an Oceanic representative in the first round later today (Thursday).

The Perth Masters is the last qualifying event before the finals, which take place at the Braehead Arena in Glasgow on November 5 and 6.

Wright has also been named in the inaugural Champions League of Darts field, which will be held in Cardiff next month.