There are two sessions of play at the PDC World Championship on Saturday, with the first of them seeing three more first round matches and one from the second round, on what promises to be a competitive afternoon at Alexandra Palace.
We saw the likes of Michael van Gerwen make it through on Friday evening and the first afternoon session will see the ever popular Paul Lim looking to book his spot in the second round of the tournament.
Darius Labanauskas vs Matt Edgar
The opening match of a busy Saturday sees the Lithuanian star Darius Labanauskas taking on the Englishman Matt Edgar who is doing enough to keep his card and shows his worth in the lower qualifying events from time to time.
That is how he got in here so you have to respect him for that but the other qualifier from that tournament, Kevin Burness, didn’t exactly pull up any trees so while you can never go against winning momentum, I think on this occasion it has to be taken with a pinch of salt. Labanauskas is a solid campaigner who doesn’t give much away but he does have a tendency to go missing on his doubles so I’m put off him at the prices on those grounds. I’ll sit this one out.
Ryan Meikle vs Yuki Yamada
The second match of the afternoon gives Ryan Meikle the chance to make it into the second round, when he takes on the Japanese player who we saw at the World Cup three years ago, in the form of Yuki Yamada.
Meikle showed some form in Minehead last month and that will have given him a lot of confidence but you have to remember not many players competing in this first round will be used to being a favourite on the big stage and it weighs heavily on the arm. Yamada doesn’t have a whole lot to lose here so he can give this one a real good go but it is another match that I wouldn’t want to bet on in truth.
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Luke Woodhouse vs Paul Lim
The penultimate match of the afternoon might just be the best game of it as well as Luke Woodhouse takes on the popular veteran Paul Lim for a place in the second round where the 2019 finalist Michael Smith will be waiting for them.
Woodhouse showed the class that he has when he took care of Daryl Gurney in Minehead last month and that is enough to merit respect here. I do think he’ll be up against it in this match, not just because Paul Lim is top notch but also because the veteran from Singapore is going to have the crowd right behind him here and that is something that Woodhouse won’t have experienced too often. Lim is a little bit of value here but at his age I still think I’ll let him win if he’s good enough.
Jermaine Wattimena vs Luke Humphries
The last match of the afternoon session sees the Dutch ‘Machine Gun’ Jermaine Wattimena taking on the quarter finalist of a year ago Luke Humphries, a man who has already set his stall out to match that, if not better it.
Humphries played on Friday night and was given a good test by Devon Petersen which will do the World Youth champion no harm whatsoever. Wattimena plays his first match here and he does so both as a seed and as a betting favourite, which might just be alien territory to him. We saw last year how big an advantage it was to have already played a match when taking on the seeds and to be fair we saw that with Jelle Klaasen on Friday night as well when he really took it to MVG.
I expect Humphries to begin this match well at the very least, and that might just be enough to get the job done here. Wattimena is not the best chaser known to man and he isn’t the best scorer doing the rounds either it has to be said. I think bookmakers are right to have this as a pick ‘em but with scoring power and a match on stage on his side I’ll go with the ‘youngster’ here.
Tips
WON – Back L.Humphries to beat J.Wattimena for a 4/10 stake at 2.05 with BetVictor
Back him here:
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