The last day of darting action before Christmas sees the second round of the PDC World Championship getting underway at the Alexandra Palace in London. It is a double session day of darts on Friday with some big names in action.
Now that we’re out of the first round the format moves up to the best of seven sets and there is a feeling the tournament really begins now. There are three matches in the afternoon and they all look good so we should be in for a cracking session.
Ian White vs Johnny Clayton
Ian White: Round 1 beat Kevin Simm 3-0 – Ave: 87.20 180s: 2
Johnny Clayton: Round 1 beat Gerwyn Price 3-1 – Ave: 89.88 180s: 1
Head to Head: 0-0
The opening match of the second round sees two players who struggled in the first round in action. I’m going to be fair to Ian White here though. He faced a preliminary round winner and that is never an easy thing to do. He wasn’t himself but he had nothing to gain and everything to lose.
To be fair to Johnny Clayton he handled himself well in the opening round on what was his debut on the World Championship stage but he was massively helped by the fact that Gerwyn Price never really showed up but you can only beat what is in front of you and he did just that.
It is fair to say both are going to have to significantly improve here if they are to go through and to my mind it is White who has the most improvement in him. He has also played more recently. You have to go back to the opening night for when Clayton played and it will be like starting again for him which is never easy. If the real White turns up here, and the longer format and the fact he is in the tournament I think he will, I expect him to come through with a bit in hand.
Michael Smith vs Mervyn King
Michael Smith: Round 1 beat Ricky Evans 3-2 – Ave: 96.78 180s: 7
Mervyn King: Round 1 beat Steve West 3-2 – Ave: 86.85 180s: 2
Head to Head: 3-5
Michael Smith delivered one of his best performances of the year in the first round against Ricky Evans in what was actually a high quality match and the test for him now is to back that up in this one. If he can do that then we can assume he is back to where he would like to be and he would be a real contender here.
Mervyn King was awful in the first round but full credit must go to him for battling like you wouldn’t believe to come through. There were one or two shots which was vintage King but largely he is still here because West was too inexperienced to put him away. King has to improve by plenty to be competitive here.
You could see what that win meant to King in the first round and if he relaxes from that he can be competitive here but I liked what I saw from Smith in the opening round and I fancy he has enough in the locker to see King off here. Smith might be 5-3 down on the head to head but he’s won three of the last four. I think his scoring power will lead him to another comfortable win here.
Benito van de Pas vs Terry Jenkins
Benito van de Pas: Round 1 beat Tengku Hadzali Shah 3-1 – Ave: 91.18 180s: 2
Terry Jenkins: Round 1 beat Josh Payne 3-1 – Ave: 93.66 180s: 4
Head to Head: 3-2
The final match of the afternoon sees the rising Dutch star Benito van de Pas taking on Terry Jenkins for whom the next World Championship defeat could be a last so it will be interesting to see who can concentrate the best and come through what looks a pretty even match up.
That is reflected in the odds where although van de Pas is a favourite there isn’t much in the betting. Van de Pas won their last TV meeting at the World Grand Prix a couple of months ago but with the double start there isn’t a whole lot we can draw from that.
Both these men have the potential to be inconsistent and you only really know which type of player has turned up when the match starts so rather than guess on that I’ll sit this one out and see who comes through.
Tips
WON – Back I.White (-1.5 sets) to beat J.Clayton for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Boylesports
Back him here:
Back M.Smith (-1.5 sets) to beat M.King for a 4/10 stake at 1.95 with 888sport
Back him here:
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