The evening session at the PDC World Darts Championship on Wednesday looks a very competitive affair as places in the second and third round of the tournament will be played for inside the Alexandra Palace in London.
James Wade is the headline act on the card on Wednesday evening, and he’ll be looking to avoid being the latest big name casualty in a tournament that is becoming famous for them. Plenty of other tidy players will be on show on the evening too.
James Wilson vs Nico Kurz
The opening match of the night sees the former BDO star James Wilson going up against the latest German talent to be on the precipice of breaking into big time darts in the form of Nico Kurz, a man who shot to prominence in a World Series event earlier in the year.
Wilson has been battling injuries away from the oche this year so his poor 2019 can be excused but when he is fit, firing and confident on his doubles he can be a match for most players on the tour, especially on the big stage. How confident he is remains to be seen. Kurz got some big stage experience in that German Masters and that will stand him in good stead here but this is his debut and he’s entitled to have a few nerves. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Wilson wilts under the pressure but all the odds looks about right to me if both play to their potential.
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Josh Payne vs Diogo Portela
The second match of the evening should be a pleasant watch between two men who have nice throws and who know their way around the 60 segment as Josh Payne takes on the Brazilian number one Diogo Portela for the right to face Dimitri Van den Bergh later in the week.
Both these men have been here before so that should help the game flow nicely. Payne hasn’t really kicked on how I would have expected him to. We are talking about a player who has won two PDC titles but you wouldn’t have thought that was the case recently. That would make him vulnerable here but I do believe his best stuff comes on the big stage. Portela is used to the stage now but he doesn’t have anything but good efforts to show for his exertions. I expect another of those here but I expect Payne to be too good albeit not with the confidence to merit a bet on a short price or a handicap.
Gabriel Clemens vs Benito van de Pas
The last of the three first round matches on the evening sees two European players going at it for a spot in the second round where Max Hopp will be waiting for the winner of the clash between Gabriel Clemens and Benito van de Pas.
The Dutchman, van de Pas, has a good record on this stage, making the last 16 on a couple of occasions but his game has fallen off a cliff to such an extent that he had to go to the PDPA qualifier to make it here. Credit must go to him for coming through there but when you think half of the tour had already qualified the quality of opponent there wouldn’t have been the greatest, and indeed we’ve already seen the other two men to come through that route depart without making much of an impact in this event.
Clemens is a rapid improver and his run to the final of the German Masters earlier in the year along with solid performances at the Grand Slam of Darts and the Players Championship Finals shows that the big stage is becoming home for him. Those efforts rounded off a year which began with a couple of finals on the floor so the German doesn’t just have talent, he has form and confidence too and he can overwhelm the fading Dutchman here.
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James Wade vs Ritchie Edhouse
The final match of the night is a second round clash as James Wade begins his tilt for one of the few big crowns that have eluded him in his wonderful career so far. He takes on Ritchie Edhouse who saw off Boris Koltsov on Tuesday evening.
I’m not sure what we can take from that win for Edhouse that he can use here because it was pretty ordinary fayre it has to be said. There is a school of thought that Wade doesn’t play his best on this stage though and Edhouse won their last meeting which was in a European Tour event. In saying that, Edhouse will need an improvement of a fair margin if he is to come through here. We’ve seen that can be possible but if I’m honest I would need to see it to believe it. If Wade is focused and on it he should come through here but there is nothing that interests me from a betting point of view.
Tips
Back G.Clemens (-1.5 sets) to beat B.van de Pas for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Coral
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