The opening night of the World Grand Prix sees some of the biggest names in darts taking to the stage inside the Citywest Hotel in Dublin. It is the one night of the year in major tournaments that scares the best players more than any other due to the short nature of the format.
Each match is the best of three sets so there is no time to ease your way into the tournament. You have to be on it right from the start and each miss is magnified. That means we are guaranteed to get shocks galore across the opening two evenings.
We have eight matches on show on Sunday but rather than preview each individually I’ll do through them in a group and wait until the next round for more extensive previews.
First four matches
It is Alan Norris and Justin Pipe who have the honour of leading the tournament off when they compete to open the night. Joe Cullen and Darren Webster are the men given the task of following them. We will get to see Rob Cross on the stage again in the third match when he takes on a Steve Beaton who last won a match here in 2012. A potentially good battle between Robert Thornton, the former champion here, and Kim Huybrechts, who is in the middle of a stage slump, follows them.
Last four matches
The second half of the night sees the big names coming thick and fast. Raymond van Barneveld takes on Kyle Anderson in a massive fifth match of the evening and the next game is every bit as juicy as Adrian Lewis plays Daryl Gurney. Michael van Gerwen takes to the stage in the penultimate match of the evening before the action all concludes when Dave Chisnall plays Jelle Klaasen in another appealing encounter.
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Betting
These matches can be really tough to call. I personally don’t think they are anything to get stuck into especially with the little value that is on offer. Hopefully better bets appear on Monday’s card but for some interest I’m going to speculate on a couple of doubles.
There is no such thing as a banker in this round but two favourites who could be worth combining are Rob Cross and Dave Chisnall. I mentioned above how Steve Beaton has lost his last four matches on this stage and that has to be in his mind. Admittedly this is Cross’ debut but having won a Players Championship event at the weekend we know he’s in decent touch and can win that one. Chisnall’s record here is underrated and with Jelle Klaasen not having shown a lot since his wrist operation this looks a fair double.
I’m also going to double up the two main matches to go into a third set. Raymond Barneveld and Kyle Anderson have been in good touch in recent weeks and they should blend nicely while Adrian Lewis and Daryl Gurney will both have eyes on winning the tournament so I don’t see either of those giving up without a fight. It is just under 3/1 the double which looks fair enough to me.
Tips
Back R.Cross to beat S.Beaton x D.Chisnall to beat J.Klaasen for a 3/10 stake at 2.38 with Betfair
Back it here:
Back R.Barneveld vs K.Anderson & A.Lewis vs D.Gurney – Both over 2.5 sets for a 3/10 stake at 3.82 with Paddy Power
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