After a dramatic and exciting opening night of the World Matchplay on Saturday, we have two sessions of arrers to enjoy on Sunday when the first round of the tournament continues at apace inside the Winter Gardens in Blackpool.
The opening night saw surprising exits for Michael Smith and James Wade while Gary Anderson and Peter Wright were made to work hard for their wins and on Sunday the really big names come out to play as Raymond Barneveld and Phil Taylor are among the cast list.
Afternoon Session
The tortoise and the hare get us underway on Sunday when Jelle Klaasen takes on Justin Pipe for the first time in two years. Robert Thornton takes his rotten Blackpool record back onto the Winter Gardens stage in the second match when he faces Cristo Reyes before Benito van de Pas plays Daryl Gurney. Mensur Suljovic and John Henderson clash to close out the afternoon.
Evening Session
This looks like an absolutely cracking session of darts which kicks off with Dave Chisnall taking on Mervyn King. Phil Taylor then begins his final World Matchplay when he takes on Gerwyn Price before Raymond Barneveld meets Joe Cullen. Kim Huybrechts is given the honour of closing out the bumper day when he takes on Alan Norris.
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Betting
I took it easy on the opening night to pick out one winner from my only bet but I like a few more over the course of these two sessions.
In the afternoon I am going to go with Robert Thornton. His Blackpool record is truly pathetic but I think a lot of that is down to expectation and he can’t have much of that this year which is a bonus. Another bonus is that he faces a tournament debutant in Cristo Reyes and while there is no doubt Reyes is a class act he can be known to miss doubles in pressurised situations so if Thorn can keep close he could well get his reward at an odds against price.
Moving into the evening and this is not a stage Raymond Barneveld likes and I wonder if we are going to see him struggle like we’ve seen Wright, Anderson and Wade struggle on the opening night. All the travelling took its toll on them so you’ve got to think someone like Barneveld will have struggled with it. Joe Cullen should be as fit as a fiddle for this one and with him improving all the time he is a dangerous opponent for Barney here. Cullen won a tour event a couple of weeks ago so he is flying and I can’t ignore his price in this one.
Kim Huybrechts has amazingly never won a match on this stage so the last thing he will have wanted is an opponent like Alan Norris in the first round. Norris can be known to miss doubles but he loves the big stage and when he starts scoring he is a nightmare for anyone. Kim’s record here is going to be in his head now. This is his sixth attempt to win a match on this stage and it will be a huge hurdle to overcome. At 7/5 Norris is overpriced even allowing for some missed doubles along the way.
Tips
Back R.Thornton to beat C.Reyes for a 4/10 stake at 2.20 with Betfair
Back him here:
Back J.Cullen to beat R.Barneveld for a 3/10 stake at 3.60 with William Hill
Back him here:
WON – Back A.Norris to beat K.Huybrechts for a 4/10 stake at 2.40 with Unibet
Back him here:
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