The opening day of the 2021 Grand Slam of Darts is split into two sessions of play, with the afternoon action in Wolverhampton on Saturday seeing the opening battles in Groups A-D to get the competition underway.
The beauty of this tournament is that there are stars everywhere you look and they are not saved for the evening either. We get the likes of Gerwyn Price, Jonny Clayton and Rob Cross in action in this first session of the event.
First Four Matches
It is Stephen Bunting who gets the tournament underway in Group D. The World Championship and World Grand Prix semi-finalist came through the PDPA qualifier for this event and he faces another player who made it through that route in Ryan Joyce. When they are done we see the opening to Group A where the World Series of Darts semi-finalist Krzysztof Ratajski takes on the German player Martin Schindler. Mervyn King then opens up his campaign in the Group B opener when he takes on the world youth champion Bradley Brooks. We head to the halfway mark with the opening match in Group C where the former finalist James Wade takes on the former BDO world finalist Jim Williams in a tasty clash.
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Later Four Matches
We remain in Group C for the start of the second half of the afternoon. A lot of people have Rob Cross pencilled in for success this week, myself included, and he starts his campaign against the Croatian qualifier Boris Krcmar. It becomes a bit of a Welsh and Austrian thing for the remainder of the afternoon. Jonny Clayton will get his Group B campaign underway in match six of the session. He takes on the European Development Tour winner Rusty-Jake Rodriguez before the world champion Gerwyn Price takes to the stage for the first time this week. He meets Nathan Rafferty before Chris Dobey looks to take advantage of his late entry into the field when he meets the World Cup finalist Rowby-John Rodriguez.
Betting
I’ll take just the one in the afternoon session. That sees Jim Williams to beat James Wade. Williams is the ultimate free roller in this tournament. He wasn’t going to be here with the BDO going up in smoke and their invitations going with it but he has won the Challenge Tour and is guaranteed a two-year PDC Tour Card from next year as a result. Most people will have been surprised he hasn’t earned a card before now but this tournament will be the perfect preparation for a couple of years in with the big boys.
I don’t think he’s coming here without a hope though. He has plenty of competitive reps under his belt having been a regular in the Online Darts Live League which has been a feature of the last year or so. He’s been throwing averages in the high 90s and higher regularly in that event too. He now goes up against a Wade who doesn’t look in the best of touch to me. Wade made the quarter final of the most recent Players Championship event but prior to that he was on a run of seven losses in eight matches which is incredible. He hasn’t really impressed on the TV for a while and more and more missed doubles are coming into his game which is just so unlike him. He isn’t the heaviest scorer so if those doubles don’t go out crisply he’s vulnerable to anyone at this level. If Williams settles and pins the doubles he’s a big price here.
Tips
Back J.Williams to beat J.Wade for a 3/10 stake at 2.63 with Betfair
Back him here:
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