World number seven Rod Harrington reached the semi-finals of the Eastbourne International Darts Open.
But yesterday (Sunday) he bowed out to Steve Beaton in a shock 3-0 defeat, who then beat Roland Scholten in the final.
The "Prince of Style" had a tough route to the stage finals, in particular when he came up against a tough opponent in Al Hedman.
The two had met at the same tournament three years ago, when Rod was victorious, but this time the match was far closer.
Rod went 2-1 down, pulled back to 2-2, then in the decider checked out 114 to book his place in the semis. With such an impressive win under his belt, the former champion was then favourite to regain the title.
However, when he came to face Beaton, the Essex star simply could not repeat the form that he had been producing throughout the weekend.
The turning point came in the second leg when, already trailing 1-0, Rod missed six darts at a double to let his opponent in.
The former Embassy winner pinned the double to steal the leg, and then had the simple task of holding his throw to win 3-0. He went on to take the title.
"My finishing was just terrible in that leg," Rod said after the game. "Steve put in some good finishes - a few times I thought I'd win it, but unfortunately it wasn't to be."
Witham's Colin Lloyd suffered an untimely exit against Sean Shailes by three legs to two, despite having hit a 14 darter earlier in the tournament to survive.
Nevertheless, Rod certainly proved he is back on form, reaching his second consecutive semi-final in a major ranking competition.
Meanwhile, Kevin Painter and Kevin Spiolek did manage to take a trophy back to Essex - they won the pairs championship with a convincing 3-0 win over Eric Bristow and Scott Cummings.
Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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