'It was horrific' - Rob Cross gives Grand Slam quarter-final verdict after dominating Damon Heta

The penultimate day of the £650,000 event saw the remaining quarter-final ties take place at WV Active Aldersley, after James Wade and Luke Humphries came through epic last eight ties on Friday.

Cross reeled off ten consecutive legs to dispatch an out-of-sorts Damon Heta 16-6 and progress to the last four, while Stephen Bunting ended Stowe Buntz’s Wolverhampton fairy-tale with a 16-8 success.

There will be a new name on the Eric Bristow Trophy in 2023, and Cross continued his bid for a fifth premier televised title with a comprehensive victory over the Australian number one.

“Unfortunately Damon didn’t play how he could,” admitted Cross, who averaged 98 and pinned 46% of his attempts at double to cap off another classy performance.

“I was averaging 97 at one stage and I didn’t even feel like I had turned up yet. In my head it was horrific! I couldn’t find that first dart.

“I wasn’t happy with my performance at the start, but I’ll take the win, wake up tomorrow and it’s a different day.

“Having the semi-finals and final in one day is going to be tough. I’ve never experienced it before so I can’t say I’ve had that luxury, but I feel in a really good place with my game.”

Heta’s combination finishing was a feature of his last 16 victory against Michael van Gerwen on Thursday, and he continued from where he left off in the early exchanges against Cross.

The former World Cup winner landed 120, 64 and 72 checkouts as the opening six legs were shared, although Cross seized the initiative at the second interval, producing a timely 12-darter to establish a 6-4 buffer.

Heta hit back to restore parity, but Cross punished a mid-game slump from the Australian to seize control, following a run of three straight legs with 116 and 89 checkouts to stretch his lead to 11-6.

Cross continued his relentless march towards victory as Heta’s game unravelled, and the Englishman extended his winning run to ten legs to ease through to his first Grand Slam semi-final.