The UK Open concludes on Sunday on what is a busy but potentially exciting day of action inside the behind closed doors setup at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes as we play down from the quarter finals to determine the champion.
It isn’t always the case in this tournament but there are a number of big household names still in the competition, along with the odd surprise package as well. The quarter finals are in the afternoon and we’ll preview them below but time restrictions will deny us the chance to preview the semi-finals and final.
Simon Whitlock vs James Wade
The opening quarter final of the afternoon might prove to be the closest one of the four matches as TV tournament winners Simon Whitlock and James Wade meet in what should be a cracking way to get the session underway.
These two have been around for a while and as a result they are no strangers to each other and usually deliver a good battle when they collide. Given the way the two have played this weekend I’m not expecting any different here I have to say. Wade has cruised past decent challenges in Rob Cross and Gabriel Clemens while Whitlock has made harder work of coming past Darius Labanauskas and Brendan Dolan but not lacked in the average department.
Rather than pick a winner here I’m going to gobble up the over on the 9.5 180s line. I think this will be a close match but even if it isn’t this line looks low. In his two matches on Saturday, Whitlock hit 11 and 10 180s on his own so he is perfectly capable of challenging this line himself. Wade is scoring pretty well these days though and has thrown four 180s at least in each of his three matches to date. I don’t think we’ll need many from Wade to send us over this line but I think we’ll get them. I’ll take the over here.
Gerwyn Price vs Devon Petersen
One of the more entertaining quarter finals comes up in the second game of the afternoon when the world champion and world number one Gerwyn Price takes on a very dangerous customer in the form of the South African star Devon Petersen.
Price goes into this match as a worthy favourite both on what he has achieved in the last 12 months or so and also how he appears to have warmed his way into this tournament but Petersen is a very heavy scorer and if he is able to hit a decent percentage of his doubles he is entitled to be incredibly dangerous. My hunch was to take the 180s here as well but this match has a higher line and Price has been switching a little too much for my liking in this event. As a result I’m happy to leave this one alone.
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Dave Chisnall vs Luke Humphries
The third quarter final could be the one where there is most at stake as Dave Chisnall continues to chase a maiden TV title success when he goes up against the youngster Luke Humphries who can really boost his ranking if he has a good day on Sunday.
Chisnall has looked very good in this tournament it has to be said. He saw off decent enough versions of Peter Wright and Danny Noppert in his first two matches and was good against a dangerous Alan Soutar as well. Humphries hasn’t done it easy either with his win over Ryan Searle one of the matches of the event so far in terms of standard. I favour Chisnall here on experience and that slightly better scoring consistency but that is all reflected in the prices so I’ll give up getting involved here too.
Krzysztof Ratajski vs Michael van Gerwen
The last of the qurter finals promises to be the best of them as two genuine top 10 players in the world clash when the Polish star Krzysztof Ratajski takes on the defending champion Michael van Gerwen who seems to have a point to prove this week.
Ratajski put in one of his best televised performances on Saturday evening in beating Jonny Clayton but he will need to follow up on that here because even though van Gerwen has gone deep in two of his three matches to date this weekend he is still playing some nice stuff. Based on what we’ve seen so far this week Ratajski should take this close but his record against van Gerwen is a worry and puts me off getting involved in him and indeed in the match.
Tips
WON – Back S.Whitlock vs J.Wade – Over 9.5 180s for a 4/10 stake at 2.10 with Bet365
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