Phil Taylor

Taylor aims to complete hat-trick

Published: Friday, 13 November 2009, 3:01PM

Phil Taylor is looking to complete a hat-trick of Grand Slam of Darts victory when the 2009 tournament gets under way in Wolverhampton on Saturday.

The 14-time world champion has won the Grand Slam on both of the previous occasions that it has been held, and is the bookies' favourite to make it three wins out of three.

He said: "It's a fantastic tournament and I'd love to make it three titles. Everyone in the tournament is a champion in their own right or has been successful so it's a great field of players."

Taylor will take on former BDO world champion Mark Webster and Holland's Vincent van der Voort in the opening group stage of the tournament, but his first match pits him against Anastasia Dobromyslova, the former Women's World Champion on Saturday.

The Russian has claimed several scalps since switching to the PDC last year, and Taylor knows he will have to be on his mettle to prevent an upset.

He added: "The group stage is tough because the games are so short, and playing Anastasia first will be hard. She's done well and is improving all the time, but I'm looking forward to it."

Dobromyslova, 25, has struck up a close friendship with Taylor during her time on the PDC circuit.

She said: "I was looking forward to it anyway but especially so since the draw was made and I saw my group. Phil has looked after me and we've had a few exhibitions together and practiced together too.

"I think it's best that I'm playing him first, because with him being such a good player it will give me a lot of experience straight away and I'll be ready for the other matches too."

Dobromyslova was on the brink of causing a huge upset in last year's tournament, when she took Wayne Mardle to a deciding leg. But she has spent much of this year adjusting to a vastly superior level of opposition.

She said: "I haven't done as well as I wanted to, but I've done better than most people expected me to. I'm quite pleased and I think I'm a better player than last year."

Taylor v Dobromyslova is the fifth match on when the first session of the tournament begins at 7.30pm on Saturday 14 November.