Van Barneveld proves class, Anderson through

Anderson overcame Phil Taylor previous year to secure a first world title and took revenge against close friend Lewis this time out after Lewis beat the Scot in the 2011 final.

An edgy opening set saw Lewis fail with a glamorous double-bullseye checkout and Anderson’s dart fall out of the board before the Stoke thrower eventually edged in front.

Anderson never looked back after dispatching a nine-dart leg to win the opening set, as the 45-year-old laid down a marker ahead of Sunday’s showdown with Adrian Lewis, who had earlier seen off a spirited fightback from Raymond van Barneveld to win 6-3.

Lewis said: “Both of us could not get the grasp of the match and at 6-5 I thought it would go to a decider, but Gary has been the best player in the tournament”.

The 30-year-old from the Potteries was beaten 7-5 by Gary Anderson after an engrossing 80-minute battle that swung one way, then the other.

Despite allowing Van Barneveld back into a match he should have closed out comfortably, Lewis believes he has the game to go all the way.

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The Dutch legend incredibly produced four 121 finishes on the way to his third successive deciding set victory, sealing a 5-4 victory over the former World Youth Champion. Anderson bedded double 18 but Lewis levelled n double 16 before grabbing a crucial break of throw with a 77 finish.

Another break followed in the seventh, and the Flying Scotsman-helped by Lewis’ two missed darts to stay in the set-was really starting to gain steam at this point.

Anderson, though, responded with his first two 180s of the night and broke throw to level at one set apiece.

He completed his back to back title success with a x12 checkout, ironically the same double he checked out against Taylor to win the 2015 crown.

He made it 2-1 in the next set, breaking against the throw with a dart at double 10 and then checking out on 75.

The opportunity was not taken as he failed to land a 72 finish, but he did hit 83 in the next leg to seal victory.

Double world champ Anderson has now been confirmed in the line-up for the 2016 Premier League, which gets underway in February.

Lewis, a two-time victor himself, shared Anderson’s view that the quality was not what it could have been.