The opening round draws to a close and the first half of the second round matches take place on another tantalising night of darting action in the World Matchplay on Tuesday evening as some of the biggest names in the game are on stage inside the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes.
We’ve seen some brilliant darts in this tournament so far and given the calibre of players we have on show on Tuesday, it would be a surprise if we don’t get another fantastic night of entertainment and a very strong standard.
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 3 Recap
Another top quality night of darts kicked off with one of two major upsets on the night as Dave Chisnall was seen off by Vincent van der Voort 10-6. We then went all the way in the second match as Joe Cullen edged out Ian White 13-12 before Daryl Gurney laid down his title credentials with a fine 10-5 victory over Ricky Evans. The biggest shock of the week so far came in the penultimate match of the night as world number three Gerwyn Price was turned over by Danny Noppert 10-7 before we went to extra time to round off the night as Adrian Lewis overcame Steve Beaton 11-9.
It was a tiny profit from the two bets we had on the night on Tuesday. That was guaranteed in the second game. We expected the match between Ian White and Joe Cullen to be close and full of 180s and that is exactly what we got. The over 9.5 180s bet landed early in that contest but sadly White couldn’t win so we did lose the outright bet. The profit for the night was eaten into in the final game when Steve Beaton couldn’t quite get the better of Adrian Lewis.
Nathan Aspinall vs Dimitri Van den Bergh
The final first round match of the competition could be one of the best of them as the recent PDC Home Tour winner Nathan Aspinall takes on one of the best youngsters in the game in the Belgian ace Dimitri Van den Bergh.
This feels like a big match for Van den Bergh. He has been touted as being special for a while but it is about time he starts to show it more consistently, particularly in these calibre of tournaments. He is up against it here though with Aspinall playing as well as he has ever done this year. It won’t be lost on Aspinall that two seeds from his quarter of the draw have already bitten the dust so I expect ‘The Asp’ to be well up for this one.
These two should deliver a decent game to watch. I expect Aspinall to win it but I wouldn’t think there is much margin in a 2.5 leg handicap if he doesn’t throw first so I would rather take over 8.5 180s. These two last met in the World Championship when they delivered 24 180s in eight sets of darts. If we work that out at an average of 0.75 per leg we would need 12 legs to get this total covered. I’m expecting much more than that though so the way these two score this should be covered comfortably.
Michael Smith vs Mensur Suljovic
The first match of the second round sees the last two finalists of this tournament colliding when Michael Smith takes on Mensur Suljovic in a match both men will fancy their chances of winning and reaching another Matchplay quarter final.
This could be deemed a bigger match for Suljovic as he is defending the money he won in the final two years ago but Smith is still searching for that elusive TV win so that should make sure there is a real competitive edge to the action here. In the early days of the meetings between these two Smith visibly struggled against the pace of Suljovic but in more recent times he has got better with that to the extent that he is now comfortable with it. Both these men played very well in the first round but both went into the tournament under a bit of a form cloud. My hunch is that Suljovic is overpriced here but probably not by much.
I’m happier to get involved in the 180 scoring here though and rather than take the match option I’ll side with Suljovic to hit more than 4.5 of them. He has hit five 180s in his last two second round matches in this tournament but he clearly enjoys the freedom of no crowd and highlighted that with 10 maximums in beating Jamie Hughes. The format is a race to 11 now so it is hard to see there not being at least 17-18 legs in this one. That should be more than enough time for the Austrian to bang in five 180s.
Special Offer
Sign up to VBet to get a FREE £25 bet to use on the World Matchplay! Click the image below to join. New accounts only. 18+. T&Cs Apply. Gamble Aware.
Gary Anderson vs James Wade
As far as the rankings are concerned the tightest of the second round matches comes in the middle match of the evening when Gary Anderson meets James Wade, as two former winners of this tournament battle it out for the right to possibly face Michael van Gerwen in the last eight on Thursday.
These two had very different routes to this second round encounter. Anderson eased past a poor Justin Pipe but he made harder work of the match than the 10-5 score suggested. Wade was made to pull out all of his battling qualities to see off Keegan Brown in overtime but having come through that test it might not be a bad thing that he was pushed to the limit. Although he took longer to see off his opponent, I thought Wade was the more convincing of the two men in the first round.
There is a chance that with every match Anderson plays he’ll come on for the run but I was very concerned about the angle some of his darts were going into the board against Pipe. It suggests he isn’t perfectly in tune with his throw. That will be music to the ears of Wade who wasn’t flashy against Brown but who certainly showed a standard good enough to win this match. Wade was in the better form of the two coming in and has a love affair for this tournament. He’s my idea of the winner of this one.
Michael van Gerwen vs Simon Whitlock
Michael van Gerwen will continue his quest to get his hands back on this trophy for the first time in four years in the penultimate match of the night when he takes on a man in Simon Whitlock who he knows well and who he knows he has a significant edge on.
These two have met 40 times in the past and van Gerwen has won 34 of those meetings. Whitlock has only won one of their last 29 battles dating all the way back to April 2013 and in recent times he has failed to land any sort of blow on van Gerwen. One of the reasons for that is he just misses too many doubles against him and van Gerwen when he gets ahead runs away with it. I don’t see much changing here but these times don’t feel right to be getting involved in huge handicaps or anything like that.
Gabriel Clemens vs Krzysztof Ratajski
The final match of what should be an excellent night of darts sees two of the best that Europe has to offer going at it when Gabriel Clemens takes on Krzysztof Ratajski over the best of 21 legs for a place in a major quarter final.
Clemens lived up to all his potential when he dumped Rob Cross out in the first round but you sense he might need to find a little bit more here against a Ratajski who showed why many think he is a TV tournament winner in waiting when he demolished Jermaine Wattimena with a 107.53 average in the first round. The Polish ace is only getting better on this big stage and he’ll be buoyed by the knowledge that he has a 4-0 head to head advantage in their past battles.
I like Clemens but I’m not sure he has the top level to his game that Ratajski has and while I expect the German to dig in and fight hard, I believe the extremely strong leg on leg consistency of Ratajski will be too much for him to handle. The closest Clemens has got to Ratajski on the floor is 6-4. If this one is 6-4 I expect the Pole to pull away for a comfortable win.
Tips
WON – Back N.Aspinall vs D.Van den Bergh – Over 8.5 180s for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Betfair
Back it here:
Back M.Suljovic – Over 4.5 180s for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with William Hill
Back him here:
Back J.Wade to beat G.Anderson for a 3/10 stake at 2.20 with Coral
Back him here:
Back K.Ratajski (-2.5 legs) to beat G.Clemens for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with 888sport
Back him here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2020
