The third round of the PDC World Darts Championship begins inside the Alexandra Palace on Sunday afternoon as six players look to make their way through to the last 16 of the biggest competition in the game right now.
The competition is still rocking from the wonderful exploits of Fallon Sherrock on Saturday evening and you get the sense that the intensity is set to increase nicely from here on in, as we move up to the best of seven sets.
Jonny Clayton vs Stephen Bunting
The opening match of the round has the potential to be the closest one of it if the world rankings are anything to go by as only one place in them separates Jonny Clayton and Stephen Bunting ahead of their clash.
Clayton eased through the second round against a Jan Dekker who was there for the taking but you would imagine he will need to up his game here if he is to come through. Bunting was taken to a deciding set by Jose Justicia in the previous round but he scored heavily and perhaps most importantly of all if you are expecting a tight match here, he held his nerve when the pressure cranked up the most.
Ultimately, this one could go either way so I’m not convinced I want to get too involved in the match outcome but the 5/6 on Bunting to hit the most 180s does look a good thing. Clayton isn’t a massive 180 hitter by any stretch of the imagination whereas Bunting piled in 10 of them in the first round and generally knows how to bang in the maximums especially in long formats when he can get into a rhythm. I fancy Bunting will win the match but I’m confident he’ll hit the most 180s.
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Darius Labanauskas vs Max Hopp
Two European stars meet in the second match of the afternoon when the Lithuanian ace Darius Labanauskas goes up against the German number one Man Hopp for a place in the last 16 of the competition where James Wade could await the winner.
Hopp has only played one match in the tournament so far, one in which he edged out a visibly low on confidence Benito van de Pas whereas Labanauskas has overcome the challenge of both Matt Edgar and Ian White with a pair of decent displays with good scoring and pretty appealing finishing. He is entitled to be a tough nut to crack on that evidence, but there is a limit to his game and he might just have reached that. Hopp might well improve as he’s in the tournament now and I wouldn’t be surprised if he comes out on top here but I don’t really fancy either as strongly I would need to in order to bet.
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Nathan Aspinall vs Krzysztof Ratajski
The final match of the afternoon sees the UK Open champion Nathan Aspinall looking to beat the Polish player Krzysztof Ratajski in what could be a pearler of a contest if both are anywhere near their best.
Aspinall looked edgy to begin with in his win over Danny Baggish in the first round but that was nothing compared to the nerves Ratajski was showing as he went in search of his maiden victory on this stage. Having got it though, I fancy the Pole could well relax and settle into that relentless scoring and solid finishing we are used to seeing from him. Aspinall will have peaks and troughs which makes this game interesting. This one could go all the way but I’m on Ratajski for the quarter and it is opening up nicely so that will do me for an interest here.
Tips
WON – Back S.Bunting Most 180s vs J.Clayton for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with William Hill
Back him here:
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