The third round of the PDC World Darts Championship continues with another couple of sessions of play inside the Alexandra Palace on Monday as another bunch of seasoned campaigners continue to move their way into a shot at glory.
The afternoon session on Monday sees the Grand Slam champion and Premier League finalist headlining the action but with two other televised finalists this year also on show there is no doubting the quality on offer.
Jose de Sousa vs Mervyn King
It might well be that the best match of the day is the first one as the Grand Slam of Darts winner Jose de Sousa looks to move closer to a first world title when he goes up against the veteran Mervyn King who will fancy his chances of an upset here.
De Sousa wasn’t at his powerful best in his first game against Ross Smith but he got the job done nicely enough and you would think he will improve for the experience of the win and the elevation of the format. King has sneakily been playing well for a while. He made notice of that when he reached the final of the Players Championship Finals where he went down in a deciding leg to Michael van Gerwen which is looking better every time the Dutchman toes the oche of late. He also showed his good form when beating Max Hopp in the previous round here. I think we’re set for a great contest here and while King might come through I think the prices are about right.
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Dirk van Duijvenbode vs Adam Hunt
The second match of the afternoon sees two of the unseeded players looking to progress to the last 16 of the competition when the World Grand Prix finalist Dirk van Duijvenbode takes on an Adam Hunt who has quietly played well to make it to this stage.
Van Duijvenbode has been in good touch over the last three months or so and there is little evidence that he is going away now and with both Michael Smith and Rob Cross out of this section of the draw he will appreciate that there is a chance to go deep from here on in. He still isn’t accustomed to being the favourite in matches of this magnitude though and I’ll be interested to see how he deals with the pressure in this one. We’ve seen Hunt can handle the pressure when he came past Lisa Ashton in the first round but there isn’t actually that much on him here. He can just go about his business and make the most of the chances he gets in this one safe in the knowledge that he has £25,000 onto his ranking which will do him a lot of good. I think this might be tighter than the odds suggest just because of the dynamic of favouritism and the 10/11 this one goes over 5.5 sets appeals. Their only previous meeting in a Players Championship event went to a deciding leg and this can be relatively close too.
Nathan Aspinall vs Vincent van der Voort
Two men who had to come from two sets down in the previous round to make it through to this stage meet to round off the afternoon session when Nathan Aspinall continues his challenge for a first world title against a Dutchman in Vincent van der Voort who spent Christmas practicing with Michael van Gerwen.
If that hasn’t sharpened him up then nothing will have done so it will be interesting to see how the big Dutch star plays here. One thing is for sure is Aspinall will need to up his game from his showing against Scott Waites in the last round. His scoring was all over the place and while his finishing, which was a concern going into the tournament, was much better, only 17 scores of 140 or more in 22 legs will have been a huge concern for him. We know he can be a relentless scorer and if he has that with him he’ll take a lot of beating and should win this quite comfortably but if he doesn’t it could be a long afternoon for the Premier League finalist. Either way I’m on him for the quarter and that will do for my interest in this one.
Tips
Back D.van Duijvenbode vs A.Hunt – Over 5.5 sets for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Bet365
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