The second round of the World Grand Prix begins inside the Citywest Hotel in Dublin on Tuesday evening when the top half of the draw is whittled down to the quarter final stage on the third evening of action over in Ireland.
We’ve seen a number of shocks in this tournament already so the 16 players left in will be pleased that the format has gone up to the best of five sets. There are four matches in all on Tuesday night and we’ll go through them in order.
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Dave Chisnall vs Robert Thornton
The former finalist of this tournament Dave Chisnall takes on the former champion Robert Thornton in the opening match of the second round. Were both to be on top form this could be quite the contest.
I don’t see it as being that though. I think Chisnall will be too good for Thornton. Chisnall has won the last four meetings between the two and two of them were 7-0 and 11-2. Even the 10-9 Chisnall effectively won 10-1 because he was 8-0 down at one point.
Thornton has never really ever recovered from that and while he made it through in the first round he looked a shadow of the man who won this tournament. Chisnall was excellent against Klaasen and he should have too much here.
Daryl Gurney vs Joe Cullen
The one Irishman in the tournament is in second round action second up on Tuesday night when Daryl Gurney takes on a man who is something of a bogeyman of his in Joe Cullen. These two have met six times in the past and Cullen has won five times.
Gurney looked good in beating Adrian Lewis in the first round but even then he didn’t look as good as Joe Cullen, who had it not been for the way Chisnall played or the shock of van Gerwen going out of the tournament, could have got a lot more hype than he did.
Head to head records like the one these two have don’t come about if there is not something one player doesn’t like when facing the other. With that in mind Cullen is the pick here.
John Henderson vs Alan Norris
This match was meant to be Michael van Gerwen against Alan Norris but nobody told John Henderson that as he dumped the defending champion out of the tournament. He now has to back that up against his former BDO foe Norris.
In many ways it is hard to assess the form of Henderson. Without wishing to diminish his achievement, van Gerwen was terrible against him. That said Henderson had to hold his nerve which he did well. It will be interesting to see how he goes though.
What will give Henderson a chance is that Norris is not always the most secure on the doubles. If Norris has a good night getting in then I would think he will win but I’m happy to kick back and watch this one rather than bet on it.
Raymond Barneveld vs Steve Beaton
The final match of the night sees Raymond Barneveld looking to continue his quest towards another major title when he hosts Steve Beaton in a battle of former world champions. Surprisingly a good number of the previous meetings between these two have been very tight and it remains to be seen if this one will be too.
If this was a normal format then I would have no problems taking Barneveld to win but there is enough pressure on him to deliver and this format remains a bit of a leveller so I’ll give that a miss and sit this one out too.
Tips
Back D.Chisnall (-1.5 sets) for a 4/10 stake at 1.75 with Bwin
Back him here:
Back J.Cullen to beat D.Gurney for a 3/10 stake at 2.63 with Bet365
Back him here:
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