The second night of action at the World Grand Prix inside the Citywest Hotel in Dublin sees the first round of the tournament coming to a close as 16 more men set off on their journey to become the winner of the latest major of the year, and enjoy the many benefits that come with it.
We saw the likes of Michael van Gerwen and Gary Anderson come through on Sunday evening and on Monday night it will be over to the likes of Rob Cross, Peter Wright and the sole Irishman in the event, Daryl Gurney, to try and make it into the second round. The card is sizzling with quality so we should be in for a great night.
First Four Matches
We kick off with a former world champion on the stage as Stephen Bunting goes up against a Jonny Clayton who will be looking to win his first match on this stage. The UK Open champion Nathan Aspinall makes his first appearance in this tournament in the second game of the night. He takes on the veteran Vincent van der Voort for a place in the next round before Adrian Lewis looks to make progress when he faces the rat-a-tat machine that is Jermaine Wattimena. The last five matches across the night are all of quarter final or semi-final quality and the first of those sees Glen Durrant taking on the form man Krzysztof Ratajski in a clash between two tournament debutants.
Later Four Matches
The previous winner Daryl Gurney gets the second half of the evening underway when he takes on the former Lakeside finalist Danny Noppert in another high quality encounter before two regular tournament winners take to the stage as Gerwyn Price takes on Dave Chisnall. The pick of the first round matches is the penultimate game on the night and that sees the World Matchplay champion Rob Cross taking on a Mensur Suljovic who should be in his element in this format before the first round comes to a close when Peter Wright takes on a man looking for his first win on the Dublin stage in Max Hopp.
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Betting
I think there are a couple of false favourites over the course of the evening and the first of those comes along in the opening match of the night when Jonny Clayton looks a little short to beat Stephen Bunting in my eyes. We saw a couple of times on Sunday night how experience can be vital here and while Clayton played in this tournament last year he lost in the first round. Bunting is a former semi-finalist here and I’m sure he would have done the required practice for this tournament. In a normal night you would say Bunting is more reliable on the doubles and that in itself should make him the favourite in this one. The fact he isn’t makes him look a great bet.
A little later in the evening Jermaine Wattimena might be being underestimated against an Adrian Lewis who in terms of the odds he goes off at in matches and tournaments at the minute is living off his name and the past. Lewis was a finalist here in 2010 and he has appeared every year since and never gone beyond the second round. For most of those showings he would have been a seed too so this isn’t his favourite event. Wattimena is improving all the time and he is beginning to look more comfortable on the big stage which is important. He can be erratic on doubles but when he clicks he can be very tough to beat as he showed in beating Mervyn King on his debut last year. Lewis should be taken on here against an opponent who beat Michael Smith, Gabriel Clemens and others on the floor as recently as Saturday so is in good nick.
Tips
WON – Back S.Bunting to beat J.Clayton for a 4/10 stake at 2.15 with Betfair
Back him here:
WON – Back J.Wattimena to beat A.Lewis for a 4/10 stake at 2.05 with BetVictor
Back him here:
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