The second round of the PDC World Darts Championship concludes and the third round begins on another potentially exciting session of arrers inside the Alexandra Palace in London on Wednesday evening as the tournament kicks up a notch.
Three of the biggest names in the game are in action over the course of the session and they will all be looking to progress but three dangerous opponents will be looking to cause major upsets so this one is nicely poised.
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Peter Wright vs Jamie Lewis
Peter Wright: Round 1 beat Diogo Portela 3-1 – Ave: 97.90 180s: 3
Jamie Lewis: Preliminary Round beat Kenny Neyens 2-1 – Ave: 93.17 180s: 2
Round 1 beat Jonny Clayton 3-0 – Ave: 99.02 180s: 5
Head to Head: 5-1
The final match of the second round sees the world number two Peter Wright in action when he takes on the preliminary round successor Jamie Lewis for the right to face either Alan Norris or James Richardson in the last 16.
Wright is a heavy favourite for this match but he was clearly feeling the effects of his recent illness in the first round. That match was almost a week ago though so he should be much improved here. Jamie Lewis was very good in the first round and a repeat of that would certainly have him go close in this one.
Whether Lewis wins or not I’m not sure but this is the second time in successive years that these two have met in this round. 12 months ago Wright beat Lewis 4-0 but the Welshman still managed four 180s. He hit five 180s in the first round and with every chance he pushes Wright closer this year over 4.5 Lewis 180s looks the obvious selection.
Vincent van der Voort vs Raymond Barneveld
Vincent van der Voort: Round 1 beat Dave Chisnall 3-0 – Ave: 98.90 180s: 6
Round 2: Beat Steve Beaton 4-0 – Ave: 101.17 180s: 7
Raymond Barneveld: Round 1 beat Richard North 3-0 – Ave: 102.00 180s: 3
Round 2 beat Kyle Anderson 4-1 – Ave: 102.78 180s: 7
Head to Head: 2-17
The opening match of the third round is an all-Dutch battle between Vincent van der Voort and Raymond Barneveld. These two men are no strangers to each other with this being their 20th meeting and a place in the quarter final is on the line here.
A lot has been made of how well van der Voort has played in this tournament and I’m certainly not going to disagree with that but the problem is Barneveld has played even better so the tall Dutchman is going to have to up his level again. It remains to be seen if he can do that.
I like Barney here. It won’t be lost on him that he’ll get another crack at van Gerwen if he wins this and that’s exactly what I think he will do. I think he’ll have a bit in hand when he wins this match too.
Michael van Gerwen vs Gerwyn Price
Michael van Gerwen: Round 1 beat Christian Kist 3-1 – Ave: 106.17 180s: 4
Round 2 beat James Wilson 4-0 – Ave: 108.65 180s: 4
Gerwyn Price: Round 1 beat Ted Evetts 3-0 – Ave: 101.55 180s: 4
Round 2 beat Ian White 4-1 – Ave: 96.93 180s: 7
Head to Head: 10-0
The final match of a busy Wednesday is a battle of the Gerwen’s as Michael van Gerwen takes on Gerwyn Price for a spot in the quarter final on Friday evening. Price was talking a good game after the previous round but his 10-0 head to head deficit looks even worse when you consider he has won just 12 of 57 legs in their last six meetings.
I don’t think this is a case of who wins this match. It is how quickly Michael van Gerwen wins it and given that he didn’t drop a leg in the previous round you have to think he’ll get it done relatively quickly. Price has a chance of keeping this respectable given the way he is scoring but only if he hits his doubles to a much better level than he usually does. If he misses them he’ll get wiped out.
I think there is a little bit of value in the MVG full house of match win, highest checkout and most 180s. He’ll win the match and given that he’ll probably win twice if not three times as many legs the chances are he’ll hit the highest checkout too and if he really wants to put on a show the 180s are in his grasp too. At odds against I’ll nibble.
Tips
WON – Back J.Lewis – Over 4.5 180s for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with BetVictor
Back him here:
WON – Back R.Barneveld (-1.5 sets) to beat V.van der Voort for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with Betfair
Back him here:
WON – Back M.van Gerwen – Most 180s, Highest Checkout and to beat G.Price for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with William Hill
Back him here:
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