The final session of action in the PDC World Darts Championship prior to Christmas takes place on Wednesday evening when the last four second round matches are played out inside the behind closed doors setup at Alexandra Palace in London.
Once this session has been completed we will have seen everyone play at least once and we will know the line up for the third round which will get underway when the tournament resumes after the Christmas break.
Dave Chisnall vs Keegan Brown
The opening match of the night sees Dave Chisnall beginning his campaign when he takes on one of the heroes of the pandemic in Keegan Brown who was very impressive in seeing off the challenge of Ryan Meikle in the first round earlier in the week.
Chisnall had a decent run in the World Grand Prix but since then he has lost in the first knockout round of the last three TV events and has been snatching darts left right and centre and missing a huge amount of doubles. That needs to change if he is going to come through here because Brown looked in decent touch in the first round. Brown did mention in his interview after that match that he hasn’t been able to practice as much as he usually would though so whether he will back up that display remains to be seen. There’s too much doubt here for me to get involved in this one.
Jermaine Wattimena vs Nick Kenny
The second match of the evening sees the improving Dutch player Jermaine Wattimena looking to book a meeting with the World Matchplay champion Dimitri Van den Bergh in the next round when he goes up against the Welsh player Nick Kenny.
Kenny overcame the challenge of Dirk Telnekes in the first round although to say he was impressive would be stretching the point somewhat and he’ll probably need to improve if he is to live with Wattimena in this match. Wattimena isn’t necessarily the heaviest scorer in the world which might keep Kenny interested but the Dutchman has been slowly improving all the time and in recent times his finishing has got a lot more reliable. This one could go either way and although I’d favour Wattimena to come out on top I don’t think he’s worth chasing a handicap with.
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Nathan Aspinall vs Scott Waites
The pick of the matches on the final evening before Christmas sees the semi-finalist of the last two years Nathan Aspinall beginning his tournament against the former champion of the world in Scott Waites in what looks like a potential cracker of a contest.
These two met in the Players Championship Finals last month when Waites missed match darts to take care of Aspinall so the twice BDO champion will be hoping that if the chance presents itself here that he is good enough to take it. The fact that match was close suggests we could be in for a lengthy contest here even allowing for the fact that Aspinall is better in the much bigger events. Both these men have plenty of World Championship experience so it would be a surprise if this isn’t an extremely competitive encounter.
I’m already on Aspinall to win the quarter so that will do me from a match interest point of view but I can’t let the 8.5 180s line go without backing it. Waites hit eight 180s on his own in the first round and I expect to see ‘The Asp’ come out with a barrage of scoring and look to lay a bit of a marker down here. I really don’t see this not going four sets at least so as with other 180 bets earlier in the week we need one 180 per set from each player with one on top in a four-setter. Five sets we don’t even need that. I like the over here.
Michael Smith vs Jason Lowe
The last second round match sees the former finalist Michael Smith getting his campaign underway when he goes up against a dangerous, if a little disappointing in the first round, Jason Lowe, who will be out to prove he is a lot better than what he showed at the weekend.
Lowe was incredibly average against the Russian qualifier earlier in the week, with him seemingly unable to buy a double at any point in that contest. Missed doubles is something Smith knows all about because he continually does that and pays the price for it. When the week or two comes along that he nails the majority of the doubles that he looks at he will take down a TV title and it might be that he does it here, although he is under pressure in this match because he is defending a wad of cash from two years ago when he made the final. If Lowe was in any way convincing in the first round I’d have taken him in some fashion here as he showed at the UK Open when he took van Gerwen the distance what he has in his locker but he was so bad I can’t put my faith in him. I’ll sit this out.
Tips
WON – Back N.Aspinall vs S.Waites – Over 8.5 180s for a 3/10 stake at 2.15 with Coral
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