Darts: West stuns favourite Van Barneveld

Raymond Van Barneveld failed in his bid to complete the Grand Slam of darts yesterday as Tony West won an epic Winmau World Masters final at The Spa in Bridlington.

Van Barneveld followed up his win at the Embassy World Championship in January by taking the International Darts League and World Trophy titles. But the Dutchman found West too hot to handle and the Essex thrower ran out a 7-6 winner.

Van Barneveld, who edged a tense semi-final against Andy Fordham early yesterday afternoon, made an impressive start and reeled off the first two legs to take the opening set. But West showed in his victory over Ted Hankey that he is a gutsy competitor and won four of the next five legs, finishing with double top to take the lead.

West was in the groove and he nailed a double 16 and eight to open up a two-set lead over the tournament favourite.

However, Van Barneveld is a class act and moved through the gears to hit back at his opponent, reeling off six straight legs to regain the lead 4-3.

West stopped the rot with a shot at double 10 and then hit the same double to level the scores. The next two sets were shared, but West dug deep to move within one set of victory before Van Barneveld nailed double 10 to level the clash.

The first two legs of the final set were shared before West moved ahead with double 20 before finishing on double eight for victory.