By Darts Weekly Staff

15 NOVEMBER 2016 • 11:26AM

Michael van Gerwen continued the defence of his SINGHA Beer Grand Slam of Darts title with a 5-1 thrashing of Max Hopp to finish top of Group A last night.

The PDC number one dropped just four legs over three group games, with the 5-1 triumph over Hopp following wins over Martin Adams (5-2) and Brendan Dolan (5-1) at the weekend.

Van Gerwen also lost only four legs in the group stage on his way to winning the Grand Slam for the first time last year, and the Dutchman is in a confident mood heading into the knockout stage of this year’s tournament.

“I think I couldn’t do much more to be fair,” he said. “I did enough. I did the right things at the right moments and I’m glad to be through to the next round.

“I also didn’t need to use much energy. This was a nice warm up in the group. I wasn’t really worrying about anything.

“I just need to make sure I get my confidence for the next round and then I will be sure that this tournament is going to be fine.”

Phil Taylor, one of van Gerwen’s main challengers in the Grand Slam this week, suffered a surprising 5-0 defeat to Darren Webster last night, but the Dutchman is only concentrating on his own game, with the two potentially set to meet in the semi-finals on Sunday.

“Sometimes people surprise me, like the Darren Webster game earlier on,” van Gerwen said.

“I never expected him to win 5-0. You never know what happens in darts, that’s the difficult thing.

“I know my strong points and I need to show them myself in the next game.

“I don’t want to look to other people. I just want to rely on my own game and no one elses.”

Follow @dartsweekly