TheOche.com

Alan Tabern won seven successive legs to defeat Jelle Klaasen 9-6 and book his quarter-final place in the PartyPoker.net European Championship.

Klaasen looked set to power into the last eight when he opened up leads of 4-1 and 6-2, averaging 105 in a blistering first half of the game.

But his performance faltered, with Tabern stepping in on missed doubles and also hitting three key ton-plus finishes to secure his place in the last eight.

Tabern began the game well, hitting three-successive 140s in a 14-darter to take the first leg, only for Klaasen to win the next three and then take out 127 for a 12-darter in leg five.

An 11-darter from Tabern gave him the sixth, but Klaasen replied with a 14-darter and then landed a fourth maximum of the match in taking a 6-2 cushion.

Tabern grabbed his second maximum of the contest in leg nine, before taking out 126 on the bull for a 12-darter against the throw.

That seemed to galvanise his fightback, and he took out a 141 in extending his run of successive legs to four in levelling, and double ten for a 71 finish put him 7-6 up.

A missed double ten from Klaasen let Tabern in to take leg 14 with a superb 116 finish, and he sealed the win on double two after further misses from the Dutchman.

“I was very concerned after only two or three legs,” admitted Tabern. “I didn’t feel good and Jelle was scoring fantastically and doing everything right.

“I didn’t want to embarrass myself and wanted to show a bit of fight. I never gave up and even at 6-2 I had belief in myself and kept plugging away.”