James Wade into last four at Alexandra Palace

JAMES WADE reached his first ever Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship semi-final with a 5-3 victory over Paul Nicholson.

The world number three was again below-par, but edged a nervy affair to book his place in the last four on Saturday.

Wade saw a 3-1 lead slip away against newcomer Nicholson, but took six of the final seven legs in a strong finish to secure victory.

Nicholson, who had knocked out Dennis Priestley and Adrian Lewis in reaching the quarters - had his opportunities to win the three of the opening four sets, and those errors eventually proved costly.

The opening three legs of the match where held with throw, giving Wade a 2-1 advantage.

He then missed a dart for the set in the fourth leg, allowing Nicholson to level as he landed double top.

In the deciding leg both players missed opportunities to win the set, and it was Wade who landed double ten to take an early lead.

Nicholson hit his first maximum of the game to win the first leg of the second set, but he then missed three darts at doubles to break his opponent's throw in the second leg and Wade managed to hold.

Wade missed two darts of his own to break throw in the third leg, allowing Nicholson to lead again.

But the world number three hit a two-dart 66 finish to level the set at 2-2.

In the deciding leg the British-born Australian suffered the same fate as the first, missing five darts for the set as Wade capitalised to double his lead.

Nicholson secured his first break of throw at the start of the third set, but Wade hit back immediately to win the second leg before missing six darts to win the third.

Nicholson went on to take the fourth leg, and the set, on double five before defying a maximum from Wade to lead in set four.

Wade hit a superb 135 finish to take the second leg, before Nicholson won the third, hitting his third maximum in the process.

The UK Open Champion then managed to hold throw in the fourth leg, and then won the decider after Nicholson missed five chances to win the set.

Nicholson won the first leg of the fifth set with a 60 finish, and then broke throw to lead 2-0 after missed a couple of darts to win it.

Nicholson then wrapped up the set in the third leg, before continuing the winning run of legs in the sixth set.

He broke with a 50 finish in the second leg to lead 2-0 after Wade was off-target with five attempts at doubles and then hit double 14 to square the match after extending his run to six successive legs.

Wade stopped the rot in the set seven, hitting back with three successive legs to move 4-3 up, landing a 65 finish to secure the first leg, hitting back-to-back maximums in the second and a 64 finish in the third.

Wade started the eighth set a fine 116 checkout, before landing double top in the second leg to go one leg away from victory.

Nicholson took the third to keep the match going, but Wade landed his seventh maximum in the next, which proved decisive when he landed double two for the win.

"I'm obviously pleased to get through but it was a poor performance, much below the standard I set myself," said Wade.

"I don't know what went wrong, because I felt fine before the game, but I've got 24 hours to put it right."

Nicholson admitted: "Neither of us played to our best and it was one of those days.

"I felt great in my preparation but maybe a long game like that was too much of a step for me. I didn't have much energy in the tank and maybe I was trying too hard.

"But I'll learn from this. The longer format on the game stage was foreign for me but I can use this experience.

"I'll kick myself when I wake up tomorrow but I'll also look ahead and come back stronger."