Painter brushes past Jenkins
Kevin Painter earned the chance to gain revenge for his dramatic defeat against Phil Taylor in last year’s Ladbroke.com World Championship final when he beat Andy Jenkins today.
‘The Artist’, who lost only in a sudden-death leg to Taylor at the Circus Tavern in January, won 4-3 against his good friend Jenkins to secure a rematch with the 11-time world champion, this time in the quarter-finals.
Today’s clash was a tight encounter and there was never more than one set between the duo. Going into the decider a winner could not be predicted with confidence.
But Painter’s quality came to the fore when it mattered and he took a clean sweep of the final set to secure another shot at ‘The Power’.
“I’m not firing on all cylinders,” admitted the 37-year-old from Cambridgeshire.
“I’ve got a lot of personal problems at the moment and I can’t clear my head so I’m struggling a bit.
“But I can dig in when I need to and Phil knows I will give him a tough match again tomorrow.”
