World Darts Championship 2026 results: Gary Anderson and Ryan Searle into semi-finals

Searle reached his first World Championship quarter-final by winning 14 consecutive sets without reply.

The 38-year-old Englishman finished the first three sets clinically to extend that run to 17, before Clayton came back with a hard-fought fourth to reduce his lead.

Searle’s 111 finish in the last leg of the fifth quarter, one of his three-ton starts in the match, restored his three-set advantage and dominated the seventh set, ensuring a place in the last four.

Clayton had better scores over long stretches in the quarter-finals but too many missed attempts in the outer ring proved costly for the Welsh fifth seed, who made just 10 of his 40 attempts (25%) in the doubles.

Searle, by contrast, made 17 of his 30 attempts (56.7%).

Searle lives with dominant optic atrophy, a genetic eye condition that affects his eyesight, which is why he wears contact lenses.

Speaking to Sky Sports on stage after his win, he said: “I can’t see very well.

“If other people trying to play darts can’t see very well, try not to let that stop you.

“I try to be an inspiration to them.”