Darts:Welshman Mark Webster caused the sensation of the PDC Ladbrokes.com World Championship by knocking out title favourite Phil 'The Power' Taylor in the quarter-finals on Saturday night.
Taylor crushed Webster 6-0 in last year's semi-finals - but this time the 50-year-old was the beaten man, losing 5-2 to the 27-year-old from Denbigh in a stunning upset at the Alexandra Palace.
The draw afforded Webster the chance to avenge last year's disappointment, but he was the clear underdog against the 15-times world champion.
Taylor failed to reach the semi-finals in 2008, but in every other year since 1994 he has been a PDC world finalist.
At 3-1 behind, Taylor was in huge trouble, but he picked up his performance and halved that deficit. He threw first at the start of the next leg, but Webster produced a 121 finish and had double 20 to go 2-0 up but missed. Taylor missed bull, and it cost him as Webster checked out at his next visit.
An 11-dart finish from Taylor narrowed the gap, and he looked set to win the next leg, but Webster suddenly found an extra gear, hitting the bull to set up a 72 finish.
Making that gave the younger man a 4-2 lead, putting him a set away from the semi-finals.
Taylor looked like making it 4-3 when he moved two legs up in the next set, but back came Webster to make it 2-2, and he kept his nerve under intense pressure, aided by some wayward darts from Taylor, to seal victory with double 20.
Taylor had no complaints about the outcome.
"He was the better player without a shadow of a doubt," he told Sky Sports 1. "The number of times he hit the double with his last dart was crippling, his bottle was brilliant.
"I hit a lot of 60s but a lot of my doubles were on the wires. Practising beforehand I was brilliant but it did not go on stage with me. You have to put your practise game out there. Mark was very good and his finishing was excellent.
"I'm fine with losing, he played better than i did. I gave it a good go but I didn't play as well as I can do and my preparations were not the best, but I can now put my head down for the next 12 months and go and win titles."
A delighted Webster said that his heavy defeat of a year ago had served as extra motivation.
"The main objective was to do myself justice and I played the board and not the man this time. I am not a man that averages 110 or 115 so I needed to get Phil involved in a scrap and it worked for me. I took my chances and it's the biggest win of my career.
"I was very nervous at the start so to win the first set was lucky, and then I settled in and i was 3-1 up, and I knew if I lost 5-3 no-one would bat an eyelid. The pressure was off and I played some good darts.
"I could not have done worse than I did against him last year. The good thing is I have gone away and learnt that lesson and become a better player. I'm over the moon."
Webster will take on Stoke's Adrian Lewis for a place in Monday's final. Lewis earlier posted a 5-2 victory over Dutchman Vincent van der Voort.
It will be his first experience of the World Championship semi-final stage, but he believes he is playing well enough to go a step further.
Lewis said: "I thought I was only performing in about second gear and know that there is far more to come from me."
Another big name, Raymond van Barneveld, was bundled out by an inspired Gary Anderson.
Van Barneveld dropped the first set of the quarter-final but then folded to an opponent whose performance indicated he might be hard to stop, losing 5-1.
Van Barneveld, world champion four times in his BDO days and once, in 2007, since joining the PDC, could not keep pace with the impressive scoring of 40-year-old Anderson, who goes on to face Ledbury's Terry Jenkins in tomorrow's semi-finals.
Jenkins promises to be a tough opponent for Anderson after coming from 4-3 behind to beat Fleetwood's Wes Newton 5-4.
Jenkins said: "That was a good battle and it will set me up for the semi-final."