Saturday is another day of two sessions at the PDC World Darts Championship with the first of the two coming in the afternoon where eight more players look to advance in the competition inside the Alexandra Palace in London.
We have three first round matches, one of which includes a former world champion, and one second round match which looks like a very tasty offering so there is a lot to look forward to as we get a big day of darts underway.
Steve Lennon vs Daniel Larsson
The opening match of the afternoon sees the former World Cup finalist Steve Lennon going up against a seasoned campaigner who we’ve seen many times in that tournament in the Swedish star Daniel Larsson, who will be making his second appearance here.
Lennon doesn’t have the best record here but whenever he has lost he has gone down in a deciding set. He has lost 3-2 to Michael Smith, Alan Norris and Callan Rydz and in the man he has averaged around the 90 mark or over so if he can put his results here behind him but bring the same performance he will feel confident of a win here. Larsson has only played here once where to be fair to him he beat Robert Thornton in the first round before getting whitewashed by Kim Huybrechts. Larsson actually has a tour card this year but he hasn’t done a huge amount with it to be fair.
You could argue that Lennon has gone off the boil in recent times if you look at his results but all the stage information we have shows he is still averaging deep into the 90s but his draws haven’t been kind. If the Irishman hits his doubles here it should be him setting up a second round clash with Devon Petersen later in the competition and he should be doing it with a little bit in hand as well.
Scott Waites vs Matt Campbell
The second of the first round matches in the afternoon session sees the former BDO world champion Scott Waites taking on the Canadian qualifier Matt Campbell who is here for the second year in a row and will be looking to do better than he did last year.
On that occasion the Canadian lost to another former BDO player in Mark McGeeney and now he faces another in Waites who is making his debut in this tournament with this being the first year that he has a tour card. He hasn’t really delivered the goods as often as he might have been expected to this season but he might just be easing his way in during a year that has been hard for everyone. Either way he is probably going to have to play well here because Canadian darts is on the up again and Campbell looked tasty in the World Cup recently. I can see why people would think Campbell is a bit of value but I think the World Championship experience of Waites will prevail here although he isn’t a backable price.
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Kim Huybrechts vs Di Zhuang
The third match of the afternoon has the potential to be something of a mismatch when the World Championship veteran Kim Huybrechts takes on the other Chinese qualifier Di Zhuang who will be looking to do a lot better than his compatriot did on Friday.
The other Chinese player won just two legs in a very up and down display against Darius Labanauskas on Friday and if you look at the averages in the Chinese qualifier he was much the better of the two so that doesn’t bode well for Zhuang. The one positive he has is he is playing a player whose career has nosedived over the last couple of years who doesn’t always produce his best under pressure but if Huybrechts doesn’t win this he’s got serious problems. I would expect the Belgian to completely dominate and while I think he’ll land the match treble it isn’t really a bet that entices me at odds on so I’ll leave it here.
Mervyn King vs Max Hopp
The second round match on the card on Saturday afternoon sees the Players Championship Finals runner up Mervyn King going up against a Max Hopp who was the deliverer of one of the best performances in the tournament so far when he overcame Gordon Mathers in the first round.
Hopp averaged a smidgeon under 95 in that match and hit four 180s and was solid enough on his doubles too so if he repeats that, and actually we’ve seen in the past from the German star that he has more than that in his locker, then he is going to be a tough nut to crack here. In saying that King was in terrific form in the Players Championship Finals and regularly commented how he was enjoying practicing around his work delivering during the pandemic and also made reference to his new darts. I get the feeling he will fancy the job this year so this should be a cracker. I’ll sit it out though as the odds are about right.
Tips
WON – Back S.Lennon (-1.5 sets) to beat D.Larsson for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Coral
Back him here:
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