Wade edged out of Hoofddorp semi by Beaton

STEVE BEATON reached his first major final since 1996 with a thrilling final leg victory over James Wade in the second semi-final to meet defending champion in the final of the 2009 European Championship.

Beaton led 10-7 before Wade won three legs on the trot to take the game into a deciding leg but Beaton kept Wade at bay with two ton scores early to and although Wade applied some pressure with a 140 and 122 leaving him with 20, Beaton took out double five to meet Taylor in the final.

Both players held in style in the opening two legs with Beaton checking out 109 only for Wade to take out 128 on the bull. That was the first of five legs in a row for Wade, with the world number two recording a ten-dart leg to break and go 2-1 up and a 120 checkout two legs later saw him break Beaton once more and move 4-1 ahead.

The in-form Beaton broke straight back thanks to three ton-plus scores and held his throw to trail 4-3 and then won the last two legs before the break to level the match at 5-5.

A 50 checkout on their return took Beaton in front and he made it four on the bounce to go 8-6 in front. Steve opened up a three-leg lead before Wade fired a 13-dart leg and after Beaton held to move within one leg of victory, Wade produced his hat-trick of legs to take it to a 21st leg - although Wade missed two at double ten to give Beaton the chance to take out 60 for the match. He missed two darts at tops and Wade returned to force the decider, which Beaton edged to move into the final and qualify for the PartyPoker.com Grand Slam of Darts.