Baxter's bullseye miss costly

RAYMOND van Barneveld edged out Ronnie Baxter 4-3 in a sudden-death thriller to reach the last eight of Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship.

Van Barneveld heads a list of three Dutch players in the quarter-finals after earlier wins for Co Stompe and Jelle Klaasen.

Baxter missed one dart at bullseye for victory in the final set before missing two more at double eight in the sudden-death leg, before double top put van Barneveld through. Van Barneveld, who meets Klaasen in the next round, said: "Maybe Ronnie deserved to win, but I got the final double."

Klaasen continued his impressive run with a 4-1 victory over Andy Hamilton while Wayne Mardle's hopes of glory were shattered in a straight sets defeat to Stompe.

Stompe, who has already defeated Andy Jenkins and Alan Tabern on his Alexandra Palace debut, will now face Phil Taylor tomorrow – in a repeat of the German Championship final which he won a month ago.

Australian No.1 Paul Nicholson booked a quarter-final spot with a 4-2 win over Dennis Priestley while Mervyn King swept past Dennis Smith 4-1 to set up a quarter-final against Barrie Bates tomorrow.