The quarter finals of the World Grand Prix take place inside the Morningside Arena in Leicester on Thursday evening when for the first time this week both halves of the draw are on show on the same night of the competition.
Semi-final spots are up for grabs and unlike in the second round where one or two players were fortunate to make it through, in the main the best eight players of the week are into these quarter finals which promise to be extremely competitive.
Danny Noppert vs Ian White
The opening quarter final sees two men who have performed giant killings already this week meeting in what is a huge chance for both men to make a televised semi-final when Danny Noppert takes on Ian White.
Noppert has already disposed of Michael van Gerwen this week and is yet to lose a set whereas White has battled his way past Gary Anderson and Darius Labanausakas, needing deciding sets to see off both players and having to do it from behind. In one sense that is a good thing because he hasn’t panicked when his back has been against the wall but on the other hand he has used up a lot of mental energy. Noppert hasn’t really been tested yet and I’d expect him to win this one based on what we’ve seen so far this week but I respect White enough to leave this one alone.
Krzysztof Ratajski vs Jonny Clayton
The second quarter final might be the pick of the matches on show on the evening as Krzysztof Ratajski takes on The Masters and Premier League champion Jonny Clayton in a mouth-watering last eight clash.
Ratajski has overcome a couple of class acts in Nathan Aspinall and Rob Cross and although he has had to battle past both he has scored very well. I had doubts over his doubling heading into the tournament though and he hasn’t fully eliminated those from my mind. Clayton has played very well in seeing off Callan Rydz and Jose de Sousa this week. It took him a few legs to sort his starting double out against de Sousa but when he did that he powered past the Portuguese and I expect something similar here. Both these men are great players but Clayton just has that little extra class at both ends of the leg to win this and cover a 1.5 set handicap.
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Gerwyn Price vs Dave Chisnall
The only quarter final which contains seeded players is the third match of the evening as the defending champion Gerwyn Price takes on Dave Chisnall in what is a repeat of the semi-final showdown from last year, which Price won in a deciding set.
Chisnall won’t need reminding that he had Price on toast in that semi-final but failed to put the world champion away and ended up losing out. That should give him the confidence that he can live with Price in this contest but he’ll still need to hold his nerve. Price has cruised through the draw so far even though he dropped the opening set to Mervyn King in the second round. He powered past him once he found his form but he probably doesn’t want to fall behind to Chisnall because a confident Chisnall can front run with the best of them, as he showed in the World Championship. I can see an upset here but you can’t really bet against Price at the minute so I’ll watch this one rather than bet on it.
Stephen Bunting vs Ryan Searle
The last of the quarter final matches sees the World Championship semi-finalist Stephen Bunting taking on a Ryan Searle who has been very solid so far this week. These two meet for a place in a televised semi-final which doesn’t come along every day for them.
These two met at the World Championship when Bunting prevailed in a real ding-dong encounter and his experience might just win the day for him here. I like Searle and to be fair he has played very well so far to overcome the challenge of Dimitri Van den Bergh and Luke Humphries, holding himself together in both matches when his opponent came back at him. Bunting walloped Daryl Gurney in the first round when he nearly averaged 100 and then got the better of James Wade without playing as well but still having his opponent at arm’s length throughout. Bunting has scored and finished very well this week and if he can be on it on his starting double he might get the better of a Searle who has one sloppy dart per leg too many for my liking at this stage of an event.
Tips
Back J.Clayton (-1.5 sets) to beat K.Ratajski for a 3/10 stake at 2.20 with William Hill
Back him here:
Back S.Bunting to beat R.Searle for a 3/10 stake at 2.30 with Coral
Back him here:
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