The first round of the World Matchplay darts tournament concludes inside the Winter Gardens in Blackpool on Monday evening as the bottom quarter get their campaigns underway. We’ve seen some great matches already and will hopefully get more of the same on the third day of action.
Sunday saw the likes of James Wade, Mensur Suljovic and Michael van Gerwen progress which means the draw for the latter stages is shaping up nicely. On Monday the likes of Peter Wright and Daryl Gurney will look to join them.
Jonny Clayton vs Keegan Brown (H2H: 1-0)
The opening match of the night sees one of the more vulnerable seeded players in the draw looking to avoid being a first round casualty when the Wales World Cup star Jonny Clayton takes on Keegan Brown for a place in the second round.
Clayton made a European Tour semi-final in Denmark last month but either side of that has been dogged with inconsistency and mixed results. Brown also reached the last four in the European Tour recently, his coming in Prague where he beat Michael van Gerwen en route to that stage which reminded everyone of his undoubted pedigree and ability on the big occasion. In fairness there probably isn’t a whole lot between these two which makes the 11/10 on the young Englishman look pretty attractive in what really isn’t a whole lot more than a pick ‘em match.
Simon Whitlock vs John Henderson (H2H: 3-4)
The second match of the night sees the Australian player Simon Whitlock, who has shown quite a liking for the Blackpool stage in the past, taking on a man in John Henderson who won his first match here but who hasn’t been victorious on the Blackpool stage since then.
Henderson beat Colin Lloyd first up but has since lost to Andy Hamilton, Phil Taylor, Kim Huybrechts and Mensur Suljovic so he doesn’t have a huge amount of fortune with the draw and hasn’t had a much better time of it this time around either. Whitlock is twice a semi-finalist here and has made the quarter final on another three occasions and while he can often be quite erratic at the oche in terms of his ways of checking out I’ve got to think he’ll have the better of this one. I don’t think the hot stage suits Henderson and with a heatwave in the UK at the minute it will be sizzling on there during this game. That leads me to taking Whitlock in this one.
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Daryl Gurney vs Ricky Evans (H2H: 3-4)
The third game on the Monday evening schedule isn’t likely to last long however many legs are in it as two of the quicker players on the PDC circuit collide when Daryl Gurney takes on Ricky Evans for a place in the second round.
These two met in a European Tour event final back in March, which Gurney prevailed in and he is the favourite to come out on top here too. I would expect to see a focused and determined Gurney showing up here because if he has a lot at the draw he will see much of the danger is in the other half to him so this is a real opportunity of a deep run. Evans is dangerous but he’s erratic at the same time, however he’s shown he can beat Gurney. You would think either Gurney wins big or Evans edges a tight one but I can’t decide which it will be so I’ll leave this one alone too.
Peter Wright vs Vincent van der Voort (H2H: 7-5)
The final match of the first round of the tournament sees the 2017 finalist Peter Wright looking to continue the wonderful form he has shown in the lead up to this event, when he takes on the capable Dutch star Vincent van der Voort, the last man into the field this week.
Wright has generally had the better of the matches between these two men although it is van der Voort who has won two of their previous three tussles. That said though, on current form this should be a comfortable victory for Wright. He has won the German World Series event last weekend and followed it up by winning both Players Championship tournaments in midweek with some insanely high averages along the way. You never know if Wright will stick with the same equipment but if he does he is going to take a lot of stopping here. Van der Voort usually raises his game on the big stage, and he’ll need to here, but he isn’t the player he once was so I’m expecting a pretty comfortable night of it for Snakebite.
Tips
WON – Back K.Brown to beat J.Clayton for a 4/10 stake at 2.10 with Betway
Back him here:
WON – Back S.Whitlock to beat J.Henderson for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Betfair
Back him here:
WON – Back P.Wright (-3.5 legs) to beat V.van der Voort for a 4/10 stake at 2.10 with 888sport
Back him here:
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