Phil Taylor sent out an ominous message to his rivals as he cruised into the semi-finals of the stanjames.com World Matchplay in Blackpool.

Adrian Lewis was the unfortunate man to stand in his way and could do little to halt the momentum of the Stoke player in a 16-3 hammering.

Taylor opened up an early 5-0 lead and although Lewis managed to eventually get on the board, the 'Power' was in imperious form to average over 108 for the match.

He also hit an amazing 14 180s - a personal best at the Winter Gardens.

"I thought Adrian played quite well there," Taylor told Sky Sports afterwards.

"He was sticking in but there were a couple of little mistakes.

"He can be 10 times better."

Earlier this evening, second seed James Wade was stunned 16-10 by Ronnie Baxter.

Wade won the tournament in 2007 and had reached the final in each of the last three years, but after the match reached 8-8 and then 11-10, he was simply blown away by Baxter in the latter stages.

In this afternoon's session, world number three Raymond van Barneveld was sent crashing by England's Terry Jenkins who triumphed 16-12.

Jenkins had led 12-7 and 15-8 before his Dutch opponents staged a late rally, however an opening 180 and 104 checkout in the final leg proved decisive.

World number five Mervyn King, who now faces Taylor, was in dominant form against another man from Holland, Vincent van der Voort, as he progressed 16-6.