The opening night of the World Series of Darts Finals takes place in Amsterdam on Friday and it offers up the chance for the unseeded players to face each other with the aim of setting up a second round clash with a seed on Saturday.
That means we have to wait until Saturday evening for the very elite stars of the game to come out to play but top level darts is packed with stars so there are more than enough household names on show to keep us entertained.
First Four Matches
The tournament begins with a potential cracker as Michael Smith looks to move into the business end of the competition when he faces Kim Huybrechts in a match both will be eager to win to revive their careers a little. Once they are done two of the best Europe has to offer meet when Krzysztof Ratajski facing Gabriel Clemens in a contest the German will know he has a shocking record in. The popular John Henderson takes to the stage in the third match of the night when he faces Maik Kuivenhoven who did well to qualify for this event. We head to the halfway mark with two veterans at this level meeting when James Wade takes on Mervyn King.
Later Four Matches
The second half of the evening will get the home crowd buzzing because Dutch players are involved in all four matches. Niels Zonneveld is the first home player on show. He takes on Dave Chisnall for a place in the second round. Two more Dutch players meet when they are done when the talented Jeffrey de Zwaan take on the entertaining Dirk van Duijvenbode. The penultimate match of the night holds claims for being one of the best when Nathan Aspinall faces Vincent van der Voort while the action concludes with Jose de Sousa facing another home star in Danny Noppert.
Special Offer
OPEN AN ACCOUNT WITH 888SPORT AND BET £10 TO GET £30 IN FREE BETS PLUS A £10 CASINO BONUS! PERFECT OFFER TO USE ON THIS TOURNAMENT! CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW TO JOIN. USE CODE 30F. NEW ACCOUNTS ONLY. 18+ T&Cs apply (See image for significant terms). Gamble Aware.
Betting
There are a couple of outsiders who I think could be a big price on Friday evening. The first of those is Mervyn King, who takes on a James Wade he has beaten in their last six meetings including in a Players Championship event earlier in the month. King has now won eight of their last nine battles too so there is something about facing Wade that gets the veteran’s juices flowing. The last time we saw Wade on TV he was very ordinary against Adam Smith-Neale in the European Championship and then wasn’t much better in defeat to Michael van Gerwen. If there isn’t a significant improvement in Wade then King will have every chance in this one, although their head to head record suggests he isn’t without hope whatever Wade does. I’ll take that head to head advantage and back King here.
The other outsider who looks overpriced is Vincent van der Voort. Nathan Aspinall looked better than I’ve seen him for a while at the European Championship but in the first round which was the first to six like this one he looked under pressure and only averaged 90 in seeing off Mervyn King and was 6/20 on his doubles which is always a concern of mine when it comes to ‘The Asp’. These short races you can’t miss that many doubles without being very lucky if you want to win. Van der Voort has been in decent enough form recently and he is going to be roared on by a home crowd so if Aspinall starts missing doubles they could soon contribute to a few more misses. This match feels more even than the Dutchman being a 2/1 shot anyway but particularly should the crowd get involved. I’ll chance VVDV here.
Tips
Back M.King to beat J.Wade for a 3/10 stake at 2.38 with BetVictor
Back him here:
Back V.van der Voort to beat N.Aspinall for a 3/10 stake at 3.00 with William Hill
Back him here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2021
