The first week of the PDC World Darts Championship concludes with four matches from the second round of the tournament as the competition begins to pick up pace inside the Alexandra Palace venue over in London.
The four seeds who begin their tournament in this session have already seen plenty of big names depart the scene and they’ll be out to ensure their name is not the latest one to join the casualty list. Four qualifiers are there to dispose of them.
Chris Dobey vs Ron Meulenkamp
We get underway with the talented Chris Dobey who will be looking to follow up an impressive run here last year when he takes on the dangerous Ron Meulenkamp who probably doesn’t get the recognition his efforts on the bigger stages suggest he should.
Meulenkamp has already come through a first round match this week, beating the Kiwi player Ben Robb without dropping a set and with four 180s and a near 92 average for his work, which is a competitive standard for sure. Last year Dobey arrived at Alexandra Palace with little to lose. This year he is a hunted man but he needs to put that to one side and focus on the job at hand. Dobey has the class to come through this so this is more a mental test than anything. We’ve seen better players than he fail on those grounds already this week so while I expect the Geordie to win I see little value in backing him.
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Danny Noppert vs Callan Rydz
It seems to be Geordie night at the Alexandra Palace on Thursday evening as another man from that part of the world steps up in the second game as Callan Rydz takes on the former Lakeside finalist Danny Noppert, with both men having seen the early part of their draw open up with the departure of Rob Cross.
Rydz made an impressive debut in the first round when he beat Steve Lennon in a deciding leg in the final set, holding his nerve after match darts had come and gone and if there is any natural improvement in him here then he is entitled to be extremely dangerous. I feel Noppert is warming to the PDC stage though and I expect him to deliver a decent performance. I’m hopeful the Dutchman will win having backed him for a quarter which has already opened up but this looks like a close contest so I’ll sit it out in terms of a bet.
Dave Chisnall vs Vincent van der Voort
The pick of the matches in the evening comes in the third game slot where the heavy scoring Dave Chisnall takes on a man who constantly pushes the big boys on this particular stage in the form of Vincent van der Voort for a place in the third round.
Chisnall is quietly fancied to have a big run in this tournament but he will have to overcome a tricky test if he is to begin that tilt successfully as van der Voort is a solid customer who scores well and rarely has disastrous days on the doubles. Having had a match under his belt to get the throw the Dutchman should fancy the job here for sure. Rather than back Chisnall to win a game that could legitimately go either way, I prefer to take Chisnall to hit more than 5.5 180s. It is hard to see how Chisnall wins this without scoring well and in a losing effort he could still hit 6 180s in a match which surely won’t be won in straight sets regardless of who comes out on top. Chisnall is scoring better than ever these days and I expect this line to be covered.
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Gerwyn Price vs William O’Connor
The last match of a busy night of darts sees the second favourite for the competition Gerwyn Price going up against a feisty William O’Connor in what should be a good match to watch in terms of the antics of the two men involved.
O’Connor came through the first round but he was shockingly poor even by his own standards but then went on a rant about how he’ll be up for whoever is in his way which I always think is the sign of a man who wants the attention and masks nerves or a lack of confidence and to be fair it was pretty strange anyway as he should have been putting the pressure on his opponent Price. That is because the Welshman has such a poor record here that added scrutiny could see him underperform. As it is I suspect O’Connor might just have fired Price up so I expect the Grand Slam champion to win but given his history on this stage I’m in no rush to partake with my cash on it.
Tips
Back D.Chisnall – Over 5.5 180s for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with William Hill
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