The second day of action in the International Darts Open sees the seeded players come to the party for the first time this weekend as the last 32 of the penultimate European Tour event of the campaign is played out across two sessions in Riesa.
There is no Michael van Gerwen for the crowds to enjoy this weekend but they will be able to see the likes of Rob Cross, Peter Wright, Mensur Suljovic and many more for the first time this weekend on what should be another excellent day of darts.
Afternoon Session
We kick off with an interesting looking match between Nathan Aspinall, the UK Open champion, and Justin Pipe who will be looking for a huge weekend before the star from Poland, Krzysztof Ratajski looks to make progress once again. He faces Michael Rosenauer in the second match of the afternoon. The BDO world champion Glen Durrant is then on stage to take on James Richardson before one of the ties of the round sees the World Matchplay winner Rob Cross meeting the nine dart man from midweek John Henderson to take us into the break.
We come out on the other side of it with Adrian Lewis looking to start his tournament off with a bang. He faces the Irish star William O’Connor before Daryl Gurney meets the former Lakeside finalist Danny Noppert. The last two matches of the afternoon both look tasty affairs as well as Steve Beaton goes up against Luke Woodhouse while the defending champion Gerwyn Price gets his title defence up and running against Kyle Anderson.
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Evening Session
Two young guns get the evening session off to what should be an entertaining start as Ricky Evans takes on Dimitri Van den Bergh before Jamie Hughes goes up on the stage for the first time this weekend. He meets Steve West before Jonny Clayton takes on Steffan Siepmann in the third game of the night. Jeffrey de Zwaan leads us into the break when he faces a Joe Murnan who is back on the European Tour scene after a while of failing to qualify.
The champion in Mannheim last week is the first seed up on stage after the break as Joe Cullen meets Davy van Baelen before Ian White looks to justify his number one seeding for the weekend when he faces the competent Richard North. It is up to Mensur Suljovic and Peter Wright to close out the show on a busy Saturday in Riesa. Suljovic faces off against Harry Ward while Wright’s route to the last 16 goes through Ritchie Edhouse.
Betting
I’ll go with a couple of bets across the course of the day with the first one coming on William O’Connor who looks decent value to see off Adrian Lewis. O’Connor is in decent nick and he took out Peter Wright last week before losing to the eventual winner Joe Cullen. The good lord only knows what has happened to Adrian Lewis and his game. He has reached a couple of semi-finals on the floor in recent times but on the stage it has been what seems like an eternity since he last delivered his best stuff and against the solid but deliberate Irishman he isn’t going to get much of a rhythm for his throw. O’Connor looks value here at 11/8.
Davy van Baelen was the only man to average more than a ton in the Friday matches and if he can repeat that form he could surprise the winner last week Joe Cullen. We often see in sport a huge comedown after winning a big event or a breakthrough in a player’s career and it wouldn’t be the biggest surprise in the world if Cullen struggles here. Cullen offered up very little on the floor in midweek and I wonder if that was down to the emotion, and no doubt celebrations, of last weekend. Van Baelen isn’t a leading light but he’ll be confident after Friday and he might just have an upset in him here.
Tips
Back W.O’Connor to beat A.Lewis for a 4/10 stake at 2.38 with William Hill
Back him here:
Back D.Van Baelen to beat J.Cullen for a 3/10 stake at 3.10 with Betway
Back him here:
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