The evening session at the PDC World Championship on Saturday is the one where Michael van Gerwen begins his quest to regain the title at the Alexandra Palace in London. He is the main attraction on a night with a competitive support cast.
We have to wait until the final match of the evening for the appearance of the world number one but it should be worth waiting for as he promises something special for both his fans and those watching on TV.
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Toni Alcinas vs Craig Ross
The night begins with an international battle as the Spanish number two Toni Alcinas takes on the New Zealand qualifier Craig Ross for a place in the second round of the tournament where Peter Wright will be waiting for the winner.
Alcinas has enjoyed plenty of matches on this stage whereas Ross is here for the first time and that could be the thing that makes the biggest difference although in truth it has been a while since we’ve seen anything substantial from the Spaniard. With that in mind this is probably the easiest match of the tournament so far to swerve.
Ryan Searle vs Stephen Burton
The second match of the night is the one which should be the closest on paper as the emerging Ryan Searle takes on a Stephen Burton who first came to light in the Players Championship Finals and then who a couple of days later came through the qualifying for this.
Searle is gaining in experience on the big stage all the time while Burton displayed no lack of confidence in Minehead even when he was up against the bigger players so if both settle to being on this stage for the first time we should be in for a good, close contest and one which has quite a few sets in it.
I like over 6.5 180s in this match. One thing both did in Minehead was show how well they can score and when the nerves settle I’m sure we’ll see that from them both here. Even were this to be 3-0, which I don’t see it being, we would only need one per set from each and one on top. I think we’ll have much longer than that though and I expect the over to land.
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Keegan Brown vs Karel Sedlacek
The last of the first round matches on the evening sees Keegan Brown going up against the Czech Republic star Karel Sedlacek for a place in the second round later in the week with the Hampshire star a warm favourite to progress.
Brown is no stranger to this stage and has enjoyed some good wins here while much of the Czech’s World Championship work has come with the BDO at Lakeside so there could be a gulf in class here but we’ve seen a couple of times this year that Brown plays much better as an underdog on the big stage than he does when he is a favourite. I still expect Brown to come through but I don’t really fancy sweating on a handicap or anything like that.
Michael van Gerwen vs Alan Tabern
The only second round match on the evening should turn into something of a mismatch when Michael van Gerwen begins his quest for the title when he faces Alan Tabern for a third round spot.
Tabern had a hard fought win over Raymond Smith in the previous round but he is going to need to up his game and his consistency by a fair deal if he is going to turn over MVG. MVG has had his struggles in the early rounds of this competition in the past which might keep the St Helens ace interested but ultimately I don’t see a shock happening here. I’m not going to push anything at silly short prices though.
Tips
Back R.Searle vs S.Burton – Over 6.5 180s for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with Coral
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