The evening session of the PDC World Darts Championship inside the behind closed doors setup at Alexandra Palace in London will see the tournament crank up a notch as the world number one Michael van Gerwen comes out to play for the first time in the event.
There is never a lack of attention on the Dutch superstar but all eyes will be on him here to see if we get the version of the Green Machine who won the Players Championship Finals or the one who struggled for much of 2020.
Andy Hamilton vs Nico Kurz
The opening match of the night sees a former world finalist in action when Andy Hamilton takes on the man who many believe could go on and be the best German player in the sport in the form of the impressive youngster Nico Kurz.
There are a couple of interesting elements to this match. They probably centre round Hamilton who is back here for the first time after a two-year sabbatical to regain his confidence in the BDO. He isn’t the player he was when he made the final of this event but neither is he the player who fell off the tour with confidence issues. His display will be interesting because all of his improvement largely has been when he has gone under the radar but there is no hiding place here. Kurz has a lot of quality about him though and like most youngsters on the up I expect him to lay it down to Hamilton here. Kurz saw off Gabriel Clemens to qualify for this tournament and has been producing good displays on the European Tour, even in defeat. We saw all his class here last year and while this could be tight I fancy the German ace to come out on top in this one.
Andy Boulton vs Deta Hedman
There is a lot of attention on a number of players over the course of the evening but perhaps none will get more on them than the veteran darts ace Deta Hedman, who it is impossible not to like and hope she does well on her tournament debut. She goes up against Andy Boulton for the right to face Stephen Bunting in the second round.
While I hope Deta does well and gives a good account of herself here I can’t see her winning this match. This is a bad draw for her. While there is no doubt the women’s game is improving rapidly after the exploits of Fallon Sherrock last year and Lisa Ashton getting her tour card, on this stage and at this level I think to compete the ladies need to be playing a player who is either inexperienced, out of form or not used to being a favourite in a match of this size. Sherrock got that when she beat Ted Evetts last year and Ashton had it with Hunt to an extent earlier in the week. Hedman does not have that.
Boulton has all the experience in the world and has been there, seen it and done it and worse still for Hedman he’s in pretty decent touch after a good spin in the Home Tour recently as well as a semi-final in the Winter Series where James Wade and Dirk van Duijvenbode were among his victims. You can get 21/20 on Boulton to land the match treble here and that looks good to me. He will win this match and although he isn’t the biggest 180 hitter he did hit nine on this stage in a match last year and Deta isn’t the biggest hitter of them either. It could well be that Boulton is 21/20 to hit the highest checkout and with Hedman not likely to win many legs that feels a big price to me.
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Damon Heta vs Danny Baggish
It might be that the match that wouldn’t have natural attention on it on Saturday evening turns out to be the best contest on the card as the last first round match on the night sees the classy Australian player Damon Heta looking to overcome the American ace who impressed on his debut here last year in Danny Baggish.
Baggish beat Andy Boulton in the first round last year and had Nathan Aspinall at it when he took the first set in their second round match before the Englishman proved too strong so Heta might not have it all his own way here. That said, the Australian is forming a big reputation for himself having won his first title at the PDC Winter Series and reaching three quarter finals on the big stage in the last couple of months. This will be a decent test of the credentials of Heta but having backed him for the quarter I’ll leave that as my attention on the game as this could be closer than the odds suggest, albeit Heta is clearly the better of the two.
Michael van Gerwen vs Ryan Murray
The one second round match in the evening session sees the world number one Michael van Gerwen beginning his campaign for a fourth world title when he goes up against the Scottish qualifier Ryan Murray who will be looking to cause a significant upset.
Murray can play this game and he’s probably better than he showed in his first round win over Lourence Ilagan earlier in the week. There he was the favourite with the pressure of expectation on his shoulders but here he can play with a little more freedom and just let his best game come out. We don’t know exactly what to expect from van Gerwen here. The feeling is that having won the Players Championship Finals we’ll see that confidence Dutch star again but until we’ve seen it we don’t truly know for sure. That’s enough for me to leave this one alone.
Tips
WON – Back N.Kurz to beat A.Hamilton for a 3/10 stake at 1.75 with Betfair
Back him here:
Back A.Boulton to win, most 180s and highest checkout for a 3/10 stake at 2.05 with 888sport
Back him here:
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