The second session on another busy day in the PDC World Darts Championship sees the first round of the tournament continue along with another match from the preliminary stage inside the Alexandra Palace in London.
Once again some decent names are on show in the evening with three tasty looking first round matches on show to entertain us for the duration of the night. Among the players on show are James Wade and Dave Chisnall so the quality should be good.
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Willard Bruguier vs Cody Harris (P)
USA Country New Zealand
Unknown Age 32
Debut PDCWC Best Debut
N/A Last Year N/A
0 Head to Head 0
The opening match of the night sees two international players taking each other on in the preliminary round for the right to face Ian White later in the evening. The American qualifier Willard Bruguier III takes on Cody Harris of New Zealand over the best of three sets.
We’ve not seen much of the American on our screens in the past but we do know about the talents that Harris has and if he can handle the nerves and pressure you would expect him to go through. He’s no price and I’m not interested in the preliminary round too much anyway so I’ll leave this alone.
James Wade vs Keegan Brown
34 Age 25
SF PDCWC Best Last 32
QF Last Year DNQ
3 Head to Head 3
The second match of the night is a battle of Hampshire when James Wade takes on Keegan Brown in what, judging by their head to head, could be quite a tight tussle. The pair have met twice in the last few months and Brown has won on both occasions, both of which went to a deciding leg.
I think this is a draw that Wade will not have wanted. While he has plenty of experience on the big stage and remains a class act to go up against a fearless young buck in the first round is not ideal. I do think Wade will win purely through experience but this has all the makings of a tough night of work.
Brown doesn’t really have a lot to lose and in the last couple of months he has shown signs of improvement in form. We know from the past that he relishes the big stage and if he can handle the pressure in the important legs he could very well get over the line but it is generally those legs which Wade excels in. I can see the sets being close here and over 16.5 legs appeals to me in what just looks a tight encounter.
Dave Chisnall vs Vincent van der Voort
37 Age 41
QF PDCWC Best QF
QF Last Year Last 64
5 Head to Head 2
It might be that the penultimate match of the night is the most entertaining one as two rhythm players who love to play at a fast pace do battle when Dave Chisnall takes on Vincent van der Voort for the eighth time in their careers. Chisnall has won their last five meetings.
I expect this to be a heavy scoring contest and another which could be decided on who plays the fifth legs of a set the better. You would think that would be Chisnall but if he has shocking legs at the wrong time the lanky Dutchman could easily win this.
We’re going to get 180s in this match. That is a given and with the nice pace on show this could turn into one of those matches like Klaasen vs VVDV or Chisnall vs Anderson on this stage. How many 180s we’ll get remains to be seen but if we get four sets, and you would think we would, we only need one 180 in each for the Dutchman to cover his 180s line. That is extremely likely so I’ll take the overs in the hope we get at least four sets here.
Ian White vs Willard Bruguier/Cody Harris
47 Age
QF PDCWC Best
Last 16 Last Year
N/A Head to Head N/A
The final match of the night sees the Diamond beginning his tournament as Ian White faces the winner of the preliminary round match from earlier in the night in what could be a tougher battle than he would like if that is Cody Harris.
White is at that stage in his career where his peak might have passed and he is just a competitive player in these events rather than a dangerman to make the latter stages but on his day he can still compete with anyone. It will be interesting to see how well he plays here for him as much as anything else. As ever though without knowing who White will play we can’t advise anything.
Tips
WON – Back J.Wade vs K.Brown – Over 16.5 legs for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Betfred
Back it here:
WON – Back V.van der Voort – Over 3.5 180s for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with BetVictor
Back him here:
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