Scott Williams beats Michael Van Gerwen at the Paddy Power World Darts Championships
Scott Williams has caused a sensational upset at the Paddy Power World Darts Championships after knocking out three-times winner Michael Van Gerwen.
Williams won 5-3 against the world number two to reach the semi-finals of the Alexandra Palace event for the first time in his career.
He had found himself trailing 2-1 in sets in the early stages of the quarter-final contest but bounced back against the tournament favourite for the biggest win of his career.
His Dutch opponent had gone into the last eight clash without dropping a set in his previous round victories.
However, that soon changed as Williams whitewashed his illustrious opponent in the opening set.
Van Gerwen missed a host of doubles and Williams took full advantage to seize the early initiative in the best of nine-sets showdown.
Despite his double trouble continuing at the start of the next set, Van Gerwen won the first leg with the darts but Williams hit back immediately to level.
An 11-dart leg from Van Gerwen started to suggest he was beginning to find his form and he then broke Williams' throw to tie the match overall.
A 100 check-out saw Williams hold his throw in the first match-up of the third set which eventually went down to a last leg decider.
Williams was first to a finish but missed five darts at a double which allowed Van Gerwen to pounce for an overall 2-1 lead in sets.
The one-time Spalding and Holbeach league player bounced back with an early break of throw in the first leg of the fourth set.
He held his darts with a 56 check-out and, after Van Gerwen missed four darts at a double in the next leg, Williams was successful on his visit for a 3-0 win and make it 2-2 in sets.
Williams then raced into a 2-0 lead in the fifth set, featuring a 90 check-out, and won the third leg with the darts for a whitewash and 3-2 advantage overall.
Van Gerwen won the first leg of the sixth set to stop Williams' flow of triumphs and then took out 100 to break the Swineshead player's throw before winning the third leg to level the match overall again.
Williams had the darts for the first leg of the seventh set and took out 64 for an important advantage but missed a double to win the next leg and Van Gerwen checked-out on 95.
The South Lincolnshire ace edged ahead again in the next leg and then took out double tops to move within one set of a place in the semi-final.
Both players missed a plethora of doubles to win the first leg of the eighth set with Van Gerwen eventually taking out double one.
Williams responded to hold his throw and then took out 58 to break Van Gerwen to put him in control of the contest.
He set up a finish of 44 and hit 12 before taking out double 16 for a magnificent victory.