The first round of the World Matchplay continues on Sunday night when the second session of the tournament sees five more matches taking place behind closed doors at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes.
We saw wins for former champions James Wade, Michael van Gerwen and Gary Anderson on Saturday evening and on Sunday night the current holder of the title Rob Cross gets his title defence underway.
The Format
Much has changed in the world in recent times but the format of the World Matchplay hasn’t. The event begins with the first round over the best of 19 legs with the second round moving up to the best of 21 legs. The quarter finals take place over the best of 31 legs with the semi-finals the best of 33. The winner will then be determined on the second Sunday of the tournament in a best of 35 leg final. Each match in the tournament has to be won by two clear legs unless each player reach two beyond the scheduled winning number (12-12 in the first round, 13-13 in the second round etc). If that happens the next leg will be a deciding leg.
Day 1 Recap
It was an entertaining night on Saturday with a mixture of tight matches and relatively one-sided ones. The evening began with Simon Whitlock becoming the first man into the second round when he saw off Ryan Joyce 10-4 before Krzysztof Ratajski powered past Jermaine Wattimena by the same score. James Wade and Keegan Brown then played out the match of the night as Wade won 12-10 before Michael van Gerwen saw off Brendan Dolan 10-7. Gary Anderson was the last winner on the night when he beat Justin Pipe 10-5.
It was a successful night for us on a betting front although it didn’t start off too well when Simon Whitlock saw off Ryan Joyce with plenty in hand. Thankfully Krzysztof Ratajski did the business and covered the 2.5 leg handicap in the process and although Anderson and Pipe were locked at 5-5, Anderson powered home after the second break to win 10-5 and cover the 3.5 leg handicap to ensure we started the tournament with profit.
Mensur Suljovic vs Jamie Hughes
The opening match of the night sees two of the more solid players on the circuit battling it out when Mensur Suljovic takes on Jamie Hughes for the second successive TV tournament after they previously met in the UK Open earlier in the year.
Hughes came out on top on that occasion but it is Suljovic, who needs a big run this week as he is defending money from the final two years ago, who is the favourite to win this match. Neither man really played the darts we know that can at the Summer Series last week so it is hard to gauge the form of either of them really. While I wouldn’t rule out Hughes’ chances of winning this, I do think the prices are about right so I’ll leave this one alone.
Glen Durrant vs Jeffrey de Zwaan
The second match of the night sees the last two men to beat Michael van Gerwen in this tournament clashing for the right to potentially face the world champion Peter Wright in the next round as Glen Durrant takes on Jeffrey de Zwaan.
Both men went on to make the semi-final in what there their debuts in this tournament, Durrant last year and de Zwaan the year before, and one of them will move into the second round here. I expect that person to be Durrant purely because de Zwaan has been struggling with what I think is a shoulder issue for too long. He pulled out of the PDC Home Tour late on because of it and his form hasn’t been that great for a while. We know that when he finds his range the Dutchman can beat anyone, but there are few times Duzza doesn’t perform at his best and I just think the leg on leg consistency of the former BDO champ will see him through here.
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Rob Cross vs Gabriel Clemens
One of a few interesting matches on the night is the third game of the session as the defending champion Rob Cross begins his title defence when he takes on the rising German star Gabriel Clemens in what should be a quality contest.
Cross has been very much up and down over the course of 2020 although that was the case in 2019 as well but he still managed to land this title. He’ll probably need to be somewhere near his best here like he was on the fourth day of the Summer Series last week when he made the final only to lose to James Wade. Clemens made the semi-final of the opening event of that series but things went a little pear-shaped for him after that but he has serious quality when he gets going and conditions might just suit him here. I think Cross might just edge out Clemens but I’m certainly not convinced of that. I’ll watch this one rather than bet on it.
Peter Wright vs Jose de Sousa
When the draw was made one match absolutely jumped off the page and it was the one between the world champion Peter Wright and a serious star in the making in the Portuguese Man O’ Scores, Jose de Sousa, and that is the penultimate game in the session.
This has all the makings of an absolute war this one. Both men are among the best in the game in the pro tour events and if de Sousa settles early in the slightly different conditions of the big stage even without the crowd. If he does then make no mistake the man from Portugal can certainly win this match but it is so hard to bet against Wright. I sense this is one of those matches that Wright will either win easily or he’ll get drawn into a dust up and lose narrowly. I’m not sure which way it will play out so I’ll leave this one alone too.
Michael Smith vs Jonny Clayton
The final match of the night could well be the pick of the matches on the card as the man beaten in the final last year takes on a serious contender in these conditions when Michael Smith goes up against Jonny Clayton.
If we think back to the PDC Home Tour, Clayton was one of the best players in the field and to be fair to him he often shows up on the floor in the regular tour events too. Smith twice failed in groups he would have been expected to win in that tournament and much has been made of his excess weight loss during lockdown and the lack of form at the Summer Series that went with it. If I’m honest I think there could be something in that and I wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t see the world number five at his best.
If this match was last year on the big stage in front of the big crowds I would probably be all over Smith but now it feels that Clayton is the man with the better form and in these conditions he might be better suited than Smith, whose pro tour form hasn’t been that good for a while it must be said given that he hasn’t won a Players Championship title since April 2018 and has only been in the final of one other since then. I’ll take Clayton here.
Tips
WON – Back G.Durrant (-2.5 legs) to beat J.de Zwaan for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with William Hill
Back him here:
Back J.Clayton to beat M.Smith for a 3/10 stake at 2.30 with Betfair
Back him here:
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