Wright Defies Heat to Make Semis

Peter Wright admitted the heat got to him before a devastating performance to KO Simon Whitlock in the BetVictor World Matchplay quarter-final. Snakebite will face Mensur Suljovic in tonight’s semi-finals after a clinical display to beat the Wizard 16-5 at the Winter Gardens. Wright, last year’s runner-up, produced an incredible 76 per cent checkout rate despite admitting he was suffering with the temperature in the heat of the battle. He revealed: “I wasn't really feeling it tonight until just before I went on stage and then I got my focus. “I wanted a lot more tonight but I was struggling a bit in the heat which affected my darts. I've been practicing my finishing a lot so it was pleasing to be so accurate on my doubles. “Simon is always capable of running off a number of legs so I had to keep my concentration to stay in front and keep him under as much pressure as I could. “The main thing was I got the win but I will have to be better to win the tournament.” It was one-way traffic in the early stages as Wright took a grip of the quarter-final with a 5-0 lead from the first session. Whitlock did try and stop the rot but when Wright went into the second break 8-2 in front, it looked all over. The Scottish ace rounded off a magnificent performance with an 82 finish on the bull to seal the biggest quarter-final winning margin since 2011. Earlier in the evening, Suljovic won through to his first World Matchplay semi-final thanks to a hard-fought 16-10 victory over Darren Webster. Suljovic said: “It's a good feeling and I'm so happy. My game wasn't the best today but I never gave up. Darren is such a good player and it was a very hard match. “I promised my son a new pair of trainers if I won so he was going crazy!” By Phil Lanning (@lannomedia)