Beaton misses four chances to kill off King in Open semis

Steve Beaton improved his chances of qualifying for next month’s PartyPoker.net European Championship and BetVictor World Matchplay events by claiming £5,000 for reaching his first European Tour semi-final at the Austrian Darts Open on Sunday.
Steve Beaton produced his best-ever European Tour result in Austria.Steve Beaton produced his best-ever European Tour result in Austria.
Steve Beaton produced his best-ever European Tour result in Austria.

After beating Erwin Friedl 6-4 in Saturday’s first round at the Arena Nova in Wiener Neustadt, Beaton landed two 11-dart legs on his way to a 6-5 win over John Henderson.

The following day the Bronzed Adonis was in fine form as he dropped only three legs against Kevin McDine and Jelle Klaasen, but he paid the price for missing four match darts at double 16 in the deciding leg of his semi-final with Mervyn King.

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King held a 3-2 lead after hitting legs of 14, 12 and 11 darts, with Beaton replying with a 138 checkout and tops before finishing 70 in leg six to level at 3-3.

The next two legs were shared before another 14-darter from King edged him 5-4 up, only for the 1996 world champion to finish double two for a 15-dart leg to send the game into a decider.

Beaton was first to a double in the final leg but missed double 16 for a 102 finish and three further darts at the bed to allow King in to snatch victory on double ten.

Michael Van Gerwen continued his incredible run with a superb 6-3 defeat of King in the final to claim his tenth tournament victory of 2013.

Meanwhile, Nigel Heydon stunned Paul Nicholson 6-4 in the first round before bowing out to James Wade, who averaged 102.41 for a 6-1 success.

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