Matthew Dennant is top class in PDC UK Open
Bloxwich's Matthew Dennant was the pick of the West Midlands contingent but bowed out to two-time world champion Adrian Lewis in 'the FA Cup of darts.'
The university student gave a master-class in the PDC UK?Open on the opening night of the competition at the Reebok Stadium, the home of Bolton Wanderers.
But Lewis proved a step too far for the 21-year-old in Friday's second evening of action, winning just one leg in 10 as 'Jackpot' showed his quality to win 9-1.
Dennant was joined in the third round by Wolverhampton's Dean Stewart, who made it to the tournament through an open qualifier hosted by event sponsors Speedy Services.
After success that day in April at Wolverhampton Civic Hall, Stewart came within a match of drawing 15-time world champion and competition winner Phil Taylor.
But the Black County builder was instead eliminated by Adrian Gray, who doubled his prize money to £2,000 despite losing 9-2 to 'the Power' on Saturday afternoon.
Dennant and Stewart earned £1,000 but Wolverhampton's Wayne Jones, Stourbridge's Nick Fullwell and open qualifiers Gavin Baker, Darrell Thorpe and Michael Musto left with nothing.
World No 32 Jones went out of the competition on Thursday's opening night despite taking a 5-1 derby victory against Stourbridge's Nick Fullwell in the preliminary round.
Jones went on to put away Royden Lam 5-3 in the first round but tht left 'the Wanderer' facing double UK Open winner James Wade, the 2011 champ, in round two.
A 5-0 whitewash was the result as Jones fell one game short of progressing. Stewart laid the foundations for his bid by winning three matches on the night.
Stewart making his third appearance in the finals, opened with a 5-1 demolition of Terry Dunford. He followed up with 5-3 wins over Gus Santana and Steven Mead.
Baker, from Bilston, dropped just a leg in his opening game by beating Tam Dymond 5-1 but lost in the deciding leg to Dave Place 5-4, ending his challenge.
Thorpe, also from Bilston, was whitewashed 5-0 by BDO world championship regular Stephen Bunting in the first round. Halesowen's Musto lost 5-1 to Bernd Roith in the preliminary round.
There was disappointment for West Bromwich-born Steve Farmer, who lost 5-2 in the first round to Gaz Cousins, after beating Chris Aubrey 5-3 in the preliminary round.
Taylor won last night's final to take the UK Open title for a fifth time in the tournament's 11-year history, defeating Andy Hamilton 11-4 to scoop the £40,000 first prize.
