Darts: Anderson comes up clutch to win title

Kyle Anderson has won the battle of two young Australians in the final of the Auckland Darts Masters for a maiden World Series victory at Trusts Stadium, Waitakere.

The Western Australian beat compatriot Corey Cadby 11-10 in the final thanks to his accuracy in closing out legs.

The little-known Australians accounted for the much more renowned James Wade and Phil Taylor in the semifinals respectively.

The world number 30 was emotional after getting his break-through win.

"I am rapt with the way I'm playing," Anderson said.

"It is all in the doubles - and the doubles were going in.

"This is my first time coming here and I loved every minute of it."

Cadby opened the final with a 180 and backed it up with a second on the way to taking the first leg.

He stormed through the opening stanza of the final to take a 4-1 lead.

Anderson responded after the first break in play to convincingly take the sixth leg and then took advantage of a small opening left by Cadby to steal the seventh.

The pair traded legs with Cadby hitting more 180s but Anderson producing more clutch darts to close out a leg.

Anderson took the lead for the first time when he grabbed the 15th leg, albeit with some rare difficulty in closing it out, and Cadby appeared to lose his cool with some rather aimless throws.

But just when it appeared the match was heading Anderson's way, Cadby replied by taking back-to-back legs. He had three darts to move to match-point but missed with all three to allow Anderson out of jail. Anderson calmly hit his clutch marks and won the deciding leg without mistake.

Earlier the Tasmanian Cadby dispensed with Peter Wright and Michael Smith on his way to a semifinal showdown with the world's best player in Phil Taylor.

The world youth champion partook in plenty of banter and exchanged some words with the 57-year-old Taylor on a number of occasions in a back and forth semifinal that had everyone in the arena on the edge of their seats.

The niggling tactics employed by Cadby appeared to throw Taylor off his game even though the 16-time world champion continued to smile throughout.

After closing out the match Cadby refused to sign the board prompting more words between the pair.

The series moves to Melbourne next week.