A new name will go onto the Phil Taylor Trophy on Sunday night when the final of the World Matchplay takes place inside the Winter Gardens in Blackpool. Gary Anderson meets Mensur Suljovic over the best of 35 legs for the title and the lucrative benefits that go with it.
The two men will be competing in their first Blackpool finals so there could be a few nerves around but one of them will walk off with a cool £115,000 in their trouser pocket for winning the third biggest title in the game.
Gary Anderson
There is now no doubt that Gary Anderson has been the best player on show this week. You could have given that tag to Jeffrey de Zwaan but the way Anderson put him to the sword in the semi-final was actually amazing to watch. Anderson was brutal in the scoring phase of that match, as he has been in all of his matches.
The only reason anyone has got close to Anderson in this tournament has been missed doubles but he made it clear in his interview after his semi-final that he has changed flights and one leg aside in the semi, his finishing was near perfect. You get the feeling he is going to take a whole lot of beating in this final.
Mensur Suljovic
Full credit must go to Mensur Suljovic for making it through to his first World Matchplay final. He is a real big stage player now and will defend his Champions League title in a few weeks. It must be said that Peter Wright beat himself as much as Suljovic beat him in the semi-final but you still have to win and the Austrian did that with minimum fuss.
I don’t really think we should concentrate too much on that match because neither player played well. That was a surprise actually because Suljovic had actually been scoring really well in the tournament prior to that. If there was a criticism it would be that he uncharacteristically missed more doubles than usual in the earlier rounds but it didn’t cost him.
Head to Head
These two have met eight times in the past. Casual darts fans are probably surprised that Anderson has four wins and four defeats from those matches while true followers of the sport are probably surprised that Suljovic only has four wins as there is a perception that the Austrian is a bogey man for the Scot. Suljovic has won three of their five TV battles but Anderson has won the last two meetings.
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Betting
I like Mensur Suljovic and fully respect him but for my money this final is all about Gary Anderson. If he hits doubles to anything like a normal percentage I don’t see how he loses here because he is scoring so well. He averaged 106 in the semi-final and was above the 100 average against Barneveld too. He would have been in three figures against Cullen as well if his double percentage wasn’t so awful.
Suljovic has actually missed more doubles this week than we are used to. The match against Darren Webster in the quarter final is the only time he has checked out at above 40% and he needed a late blitz on the doubles to achieve that. Suljovic doesn’t score heavily enough to be missing doubles here but if that trend continues I expect him to be well beaten. There was a time that Anderson couldn’t handle Suljovic’s style but those days are gone now. I expect Anderson to cover 4.5 legs with an average of more than 100.5 here.
Tips
Back G.Anderson (-4.5 legs) to beat M.Suljovic for a 4/10 stake at 1.85 with NetBet
Back him here:
WON – Back G.Anderson – Over 100.5 three dart average for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Betfair
Back him here:
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