Terry Jenkins has reached the ninth major final of his PDC career by seeing off Mervyn King in the semis at the European Championship in Mulheim.
Jenkins produced a three-dart average of 95.2 to beat King by 11 legs to eight and set up a clash with either Michael van Gerwen or Raymond van Barneveld in tonight’s final.
The 51-year-old Ledbury thrower has lost in all eight of his previous TV finals. He will have to improve later this evening if he is to end that frustrating tradition with a win over one of Holland’s finest talents.
On a positive note, Jenkins hit seven 180s and took out three three-figure finishes against King.
After winning the opening two legs with back-to-back 16-darters, Jenkins missed tops for Shanghai in leg three, allowing King to break back with a 14-darter.
King produced another 14-darter to hold in leg four and he then took out 116 to go into the interval 3-2 ahead, after Jenkins had missed six darts at double.
Jenkins was on the verge of going 4-2 down after the break, but King failed to take out 36 with seven darts, allowing ‘The Bull’ to punish with a superb 120 checkout.
Having levelled at 3-3, Jenkins won the next three legs on the spin, hitting double 13, double 16 and tops in the process.
Jenkins began leg 10 with consecutive 180s, which got the rowdy German crowd dreaming of a nine-darter.
However, Jenkins followed those maximums with two sloppy treble-less visits and King pinned double four to stop the rot and go into the second interval 6-4 behind.
Jenkins held comfortably when play resumed and he should have broken to lead 8-4, but he missed four darts at 28, before King took out 72 to keep the match alive at 7-5.
Seemingly unaffected by his misses in the previous leg, Jenkins cleaned up 100 for an 11-darter, before nailing tops again for a 9-5 lead.
Leg 15 did not reflect well on either player, but King eventually won it, hitting double five for a break.
A 15-darter from King then closed the gap to two legs again, but Jenkins responded with a 14-darter to move to within one leg of victory.
Jenkins missed five match darts for an 11-7 win, but he made no mistake in leg 19, taking out 122 on the bullseye.
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