World Matchplay 2021: Gerwyn Price wins all-Welsh battle against Jonny Clayton
- Published
Price averaged 101 in the first all-Welsh tie in the tournament's 28-year history
World champion Gerwyn Price beat fellow Welshman Jonny Clayton 11-3 in the second round of the World Matchplay.
Price, 36, has reached the quarter-final stage only once before, back in his Blackpool debut in 2015.
World number one Price faces defending champion Dimitri van den Bergh in the quarter-finals on Thursday night.
"Jonny played well. I put him under a lot of pressure and he slipped up on one or two legs. I was there to punish him," said Price.
Clayton, 46, the 2021 Premier League champion, had not beaten Price in a televised game since 2017 but both players broke each other repeatedly at the start of the match.
'The Iceman' Price, went into the first break with a 3-2 lead with neither player missing a double at that stage of the match and both with an average of more than 105.
Clayton won three legs on the bounce to make things level at 3-3 only for Price to come back and win four legs to regain control of the match and extend his lead to 7-3 at the second interval.
Clayton squandered his chance to get back in the match with seven misses at the double in the eighth leg after the interval and Price pounced on his opportunity to make it 8-3.
The double Grand Prix champion was ruthless with his scoring and won eight legs in a row to secure his place in the last eight.
"It's difficult for me to play Jonny as he's a really good friend, but it was even more difficult to play Jonny and the crowd together," Price added.
Price was again greeted by boos by the 2,000 capacity crowd in the Empress Ballroom but he quickly silenced them during the match.
"It does give me that edge and makes me into the zone a lot quicker and I concentrate and get down to the job in hand," he said.
"I'm not saying I love it because it gets me into that place, but it goes on a little bit too much I think."
In the final match of the night, Belgian Van den Bergh beat five-time quarter-finalist Dave Chisnall 11-8 in a high-quality affair.
Earlier, the 2019 winner Rob Cross was knocked out after an 11-8 defeat by debutant 23-year-old Callan Rydz, the youngest player in the competition.
Cross was 5-2 up early on in the match but Rydz produced a sensational display to come back including throwing a 170 checkout to take the biggest win of his career and make his first major quarter-final.
The 'Polish Eagle' Krzysztof Ratajski also reached the quarter-finals for the second consecutive year with a 11-5 victory against Luke Humphries.
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