The semi-final line up in the Grand Slam of Darts will be completed on Saturday evening when the last two quarter finals are played out in Wolverhampton on what has the potential to be a very special evening of arrers.
We saw James Wade and Gerwyn Price make it through on Friday evening and among the players looking to join them on Saturday are the World Matchplay champion Peter Wright and the former winner of this event Michael van Gerwen.
Michael van Gerwen vs Michael Smith
We know for sure that there will be one Michael in the semi-finals and in the opening match on Saturday evening we will find out which one it will be when Michael van Gerwen takes on Michael Smith in what is a repeat of the 2019 World Championship final.
Van Gerwen has oozed class this week so far but Smith hasn’t been lacking for power scoring. The difference between the two so far has been the doubling. Even when he misses, you sense van Gerwen fancies hitting his doubles but there is a tentative nature to Smith on the doubles and against MVG in this form if he has a period of missing them then he is going to suffer. The positive for Smith is he doesn’t fear van Gerwen but those missed doubles are a real concern for me. MVG has that swagger back but he isn’t completely secure on the doubles himself so rather than sweat it out on the outer ring I’ll play MVG to plough in more than 7.5 180s. He nailed eight of them against Anderson in the previous round and four in each of his final two group matches. We should be getting around 28-30 legs here which will be plenty of time for the Green Machine to hit eight 180s.
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Peter Wright vs Fallon Sherrock
It isn’t very often that Michael van Gerwen gets overshadowed on a night when he is in darting action but that will be the case on Saturday evening when the ‘Queen of the Palace’ Fallon Sherrock will look to become the wonder of Wolverhampton when she meets Peter Wright in the last of the quarter finals.
These two met in the group stage of the competition when Wright won 5-1 in no time. Sherrock wasn’t as outplayed as the score suggests though. She just couldn’t buy a double in that match but having won three matches since then her confidence on the outer ring will be sky high heading into this one. Wright looked ok in that match but since then his form has been very questionable. He lost to Gabriel Clemens and nearly threw his second round clash against Jose de Sousa away. I think we’ll see Wright come good here. I’m not convinced he’ll need to play his best to win this one. This is the longest darts match Fallon Sherrock will have played by quite some distance and while she might well be competitive early doors, the longer this one goes the more I expect Wright to pull away. Sherrock is getting 5.5 legs which sounds like a lot but the longest match I can find Sherrock playing had 23 legs in the World Championship against Ted Evetts. To get to 11 legs to cover that handicap she would be playing a 27th leg so he’ll be going the longest she’s ever gone. I think Fallon struggles to cover that handicap. That is no disgrace. To take 10 legs out of Wright would be no mean achievement but any more at this relatively early stage in her big time career at this level might be asking a little too much.
Tips
Back M.van Gerwen – Over 7.5 180s for a 3/10 stake at 1.85 with BetVictor
Back him here:
Back P.Wright (-5.5 legs) to beat F.Sherrock for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Sky Bet
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