Gerwyn Price has regained his world number one spot ahead of his first World Matchplay semi-final at Blackpool's Winter Gardens on Saturday night.
The Welshman, who put in the performance of the tournament so far, defied an inspired fightback from Portugal's Jose De Sousa and closed out a 16-14 victory on Friday to book a spot in the last-four. He will now face Danny Noppert on Saturday night (8pm start).
The quarter-final result means Price regains the world number one spot, overtaking Scottish world champion Peter Wright.
Price had kicked off with a 160 checkout in the second leg, before De Sousa responded with one of his own two legs later. The opponents were evenly-matched until Price broke through in the 12th leg to lead 7-5, followed by a break straight back from De Sousa and then Price who powered through for a 13-8 lead. De Sousa then rallied to win five consecutive legs and level the match at 13 legs apiece, but Price remained focused to win with a 104.64 match average, the highest of the tournament so far.
Price believes he deserves the No. 1 spot following an unsettled 2022 so far which has seen The Iceman struggle for form and fitness, and fail to qualify for the Premier League play-offs.
"That was a difficult game," 2021 world champion Price said. "I played pretty well and I think I deserved to go through.
"Jose is a great player. He dug in right until the end, and I’m thankful to come through. I believe I’m the world number one, especially with performances like that. I think it’s where I deserve to be."
Saturday night’s semi-finals will begin with a blockbuster clash between Price and Noppert, before former champions Michael van Gerwen and Dimitri Van den Bergh collide in the evening’s finale. The winners will face off in the final on Sunday.
Price has now joined Van Gerwen as the 2/1 joint tournament favourite, with title sponsors Betfred, with Van den Bergh 3/1 to claim the title and Noppert the 5/1 outsider.
The action will be broadcast live on Sky Sports Main Event from 8pm on Saturday, July 23. Semi-finals will be the best of 33 legs. Each game must be won by two clear legs, with up to a maximum of five additional legs being played before the sixth additional leg is sudden-death. For example, should a semi-final (best of 33 legs) reach 19-19, then the 39th leg would be the final and deciding leg.
