The last 32 of the Hungarian Darts Trophy is played out over two sessions of what looks like being excellent darts action on Saturday as the first of the two European Tour events this term kicks into life out in Budapest.
This is the day where the seeded players enter the competition which means we get to see the likes of Peter Wright, Gerwyn Price and Michael van Gerwen for the first time this weekend. They headline a very good schedule.
Afternoon Session
The action gets started with the man who had to qualify for this tournament originally but who then became a seed when Danny Noppert pulled out in Rob Cross, taking on the dangerous Ross Smith. Krzysztof Ratajski is pretty prolific at this level and he’s up second when he takes on Lewis Williams before Brendan Dolan begins his tournament against the Scottish player Alan Soutar who has had a fine season. We reach the interval on Saturday afternoon with James Wade taking on a William O’Connor who had a bye in the opening round on Friday.
Once the break has been and gone Mensur Suljovic will be up on the stage. He faces the competent challenge of William Borland for a place in the last 16 before Devon Petersen goes up against Luke Humphries. The final two matches both involve youngsters taking on seeded opponents as Keane Barry faces Dirk van Duijvenbode before the afternoon concludes with Nathan Aspinall taking on the confident Bradley Brooks.
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Evening Session
The evening session gets underway with the Premier League champion Jonny Clayton meeting the Czech youngster Adam Gawlas before the number one seed Joe Cullen takes to the stage to take on the former BDO ace Geert de Vos. Two men who will be teammates next week meet in the third match of the evening when Damon Heta takes on Simon Whitlock before the Grand Slam champion Jose de Sousa takes us into the break when he faces Joe Murnan.
The pick of the matches in the last 32 brings us out of the intermission when Michael van Gerwen takes on Daryl Gurney in a clash that doesn’t belong this early in the tournament. The world champion Gerwyn Price then takes to the stage to take on Richard Veenstra before the recent World Matchplay winner Peter Wright gets his campaign underway. He takes on Florian Hempel before the final match of a busy day of darts sees Michael Smith playing John Michael.
Betting
I’ll take a couple of unseeded outsiders to win their matches on Saturday. I think those players will have an advantage having played a match as opposed to the seeds who haven’t had a competitive outing since the World Matchplay. The first player I like is Alan Soutar who started the year brilliantly and while he has gone a little quiet in the latter part of it that is only down to inactivity with hardly any darts to play. He averaged 97.43 in a routine win on Friday and should be all the better for it. He plays Brendan Dolan who is an awkward customer to face but he has only won five and lost five of his last 10 matches so he wasn’t in great form even prior to the little break ahead of this event. Soutar has little to lose here and could deliver something of an upset in this one.
The other bet comes in the evening where Damon Heta just doesn’t convince me on the stages at the minute. He might also have his mind on other things as he is nobly organising a raffle to raise funds for the family of Kyle Anderson after his tragic recent passing. Heta takes on his World Cup teammate in a few days in Simon Whitlock and the more experienced Australian has to be the bet in this one. He had a good performance in the first round on Friday where he beat Darren Webster with a 98 average and a decent checkout percentage. Heta is very good on the floor but doesn’t convince me as much on the stage so I’ll side with Whitlock here.
Tips
Back A.Soutar to beat B.Dolan for a 3/10 stake at 2.20 with Coral
Back S.Whitlock to beat D.Heta for a 3/10 stake at 2.30 with Coral
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