It is the fifth day of action at the PDC World Darts Championship on Tuesday and we have two sessions to enjoy as another batch of players get their campaign underway inside the Alexandra Palace venue in the heart of London.
The shocks keep on coming in this tournament so the big names on show will be nervy stepping onto the stage. We have to wait until the evening for the bigger names to come out to play but we have a competitive afternoon to go through first.
Ryan Searle vs Robbie King
The opening match of the afternoon sees Ryan Searle, the man who took care of Mensur Suljovic here last year, going up against the Australian qualifier Robbie King, who has dominated at times on the circuit down under and won the Oceanic Masters to make it here.
This has been a pretty ordinary year for Searle, especially in the latter half of it and he has only cashed in three of the last 15 tournaments he has entered which highlights his struggles nicely. We saw King in the Melbourne event of the World Series and he was beaten in the first round by Rob Cross which an average under 80. Clearly he will be better than that but his lack of big stage experience is a concern. I’m in no rush to back Searle given the pressure that is on him as a favourite so this is an easy one to leave alone.
Special Offer
Bet on the World Championship with Boylesports and get double winnings as a free bet on ALL markets if the final checkout is 100+! All customers! Click the image above to bet on this fantastic offer! 18+ T&Cs apply. Gamble Aware.
Cristo Reyes vs Lourence Ilagan
The Alexandra Palace turns into Filipino land for the next couple of matches with the first half of the Philippines World Cup side on show as Lourence Ilagan takes on the Spanish star Cristo Reyes for the right to meet Adrian Lewis in the next stage of the tournament.
By his high standards, it has been a terrible year for Reyes, although there have been signs towards the end of it that he is finding his form again and a couple of wins here will rescue a bad spell. Ilagan topped the Asian Tour, which takes some doing these days to be fair, but his record in this tournament, for which he is a frequent qualifier, is very ordinary to say the least. Given the pressures around this one I suggest we’ll see a competitive game. I fancy that extra class of Reyes to just edge it but not nearly enough to act on that hunch betting wise.
Rowby-John Rodriguez vs Noel Malicdem
The penultimate match of the afternoon sees the Austrian youngster Rowby-John Rodriguez taking on the classy Filipino player Noel Malicdem in what is the tightest of the matches on the card on Tuesday, according to the bookmakers’ odds at least.
There is no dressing up the poor year that Rodriguez has had. On the floor he has only gone past the last 64, ie won two matches in the same tournament, twice since February and while he made the quarter final of the Austrian Darts Championship, he had the crowd behind him on that occasion. Malicdem didn’t win the Asian Tour but he averaged over 90 over the season which sets a decent standard. He won his first round game here last year and gave it to Kyle Anderson in defeat after that. Rodriguez has never been past the last 64 of this tournament so if Malicdem pins his doubles he should come through here.
Special Offer
Bet on the PDC World Championship with Betway and get paid out as a winner if your player leads 2-0 in sets whether they win or lose! Click the image above to bet. All customers! 18+ T&Cs apply. Gamble Aware.
Krzysztof Ratajski vs Zoran Lerchbacher
The one second round match in the session sees two European starlets going at it when the Polish star Krzysztof Ratajski goes up against the Austrian player Zoran Lerchbacher who had a good win over Jamie Hughes in the first round to make it here.
We actually saw some of the best darts we’ve seen from Lerchbacher in that match, with a bunch of 180s and some cool and composed action under pressure, against a very competent opponent so that should have set him up nicely for this battle. He’ll need to play well again though because Ratajski is warming to the big stage and beginning to show the form on it that has seen him win three titles on the floor and the European Tour this term and make the final of two others. I expect Ratajski to win this but he’s plenty short enough based on what we’ve seen thus far. If I was getting involved I’d probably look at it being tighter than the odds suggest but I’m on Ratajski for his quarter, which has already opened up, so that is enough to keep me interested.
Tips
WON – Back N.Malicdem to beat R-J.Rodriguez for a 4/10 stake at 1.95 with Betfair
Back him here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2019
