The last 16 of the PDC World Championship concludes on Friday with two more sessions of action inside Alexandra Palace as the quarter final draw of the biggest tournament in the world is confirmed.
This tournament has been littered with shocks so absolutely nobody is safe as they take to the stage on Friday beginning with the six men in the afternoon. James Wade is the big name on show on what is a competitive session.
Nathan Aspinall vs Devon Petersen
We are getting into life changing territory for many of the players taking to the stage in the afternoon session not least the first two up as Nathan Aspinall takes on Devon Petersen for a place in the last eight and a guaranteed £50,000.
Aspinall has thrown some lovely darts in this tournament so far but we are entering a couple of unknown territories for him now. Firstly he has never been this far in a major tournament and he certainly hasn’t been a warm favourite in a match of this kind. Petersen has been to the last 16 of this tournament but no further but should he win here he will face either Benito van de Pas or Brendan Dolan for a place in the semi-final and £100,000 which would relaunch his career in an instant.
There are a couple of lines which interest me here based on the tournament so far but I really don’t think this match will follow the pattern of what has gone before given the enormity of it for both men and the chance that is in front of them. I’ll tentatively no bet it.
Brendan Dolan vs Benito van de Pas
The second match of the afternoon sees both players in the same boat as in the first game as Brendan Dolan takes on Benito van de Pas in a match in which a return to the upper echelons of the game is at stake.
Both men have seen their rankings plummet after a terrible 2018 but a win here would give them a shot at £100,000 and a return to the top 20 or so in the world and with the chance to build on that. Given where they have been in their careers this is an opportunity that both will be desperate not to pass up so we should expect a competitive match here at the very least.
When all the lines come up I might back overs in the legs here because I expect this to be very tight but other than that not a huge amount interests me in what I anticipate being a competitive match but potentially low in quality.
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Ryan Joyce vs James Wade
The final match of the afternoon will see the European Championship and World Series Finals winner James Wade taking on Ryan Joyce for the right to take on Michael van Gerwen in the quarter final on Saturday evening.
Joyce has thrown some nice darts in this tournament and is now in a situation where he has had a few days to think about what he has achieved and perhaps more important the opportunity that is in front of him and I wonder if he will be able to perform under what must surely be nervous times. Wade hasn’t been anything like perfect in this tournament but he has a habit of coming through in the key moments, the sort of moments you wonder if Joyce will be able to express himself in.
We’ve really not seen the best of Wade in this tournament but I expect these two men to go in opposite directions now. I see Joyce struggling in this match while Wade should ride out the occasion. These two have met three times in 2018 and Wade has won all three. I think it is worth chancing that he gets in front early here and if he does he’ll do enough on throw to run out a comfortable winner.
Tips
Back J.Wade (-2.5 sets) to beat R.Joyce for a 4/10 stake at 2.50 with Coral
Back him here:
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