The PDC World Darts Championship returns from the Christmas break with two sessions of action inside Alexandra Palace on Sunday as the third round of the competition begins on a day where there is a feeling that the tournament really ramps up.
Everyone has won at least one match on the stage now so they should be settled into the competition and with the format up to the best of seven sets the quality should really rise from here on in.
Krzysztof Ratajski vs Simon Whitlock
The opening match of the third round sees the classy Krzysztof Ratajski who is looking to make his big breakthrough in televised competition taking on the former finalist of this event in Simon Whitlock, who is looking to get back to the latter stages once again.
This is one of a number of third round clashes where there is a good dynamic to it. We have the scoring consistency without the power scoring but solid in all departments of Ratajski against a Whitlock who is hitting more 180s than most at present but you can never truly be trusted on the doubles right now. It will be interesting to see which way this one plays out but whoever comes out on top you’ve got to think that this one will go quite deep which makes me think that the odds against on Whitlock to hit more than 8.5 180s is worth going with here.
Whitlock recently broke the record for 180s in a Grand Slam match with 20 of them which immediately highlighted how many of them he is hitting but he also threw 10 in five sets in his second round match here. He only hit one in the first two sets of that match so when he got going he ploughed them in. Over a possible seven sets here I’ve got to think he’ll go past 8.5 180s in this one.
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Kim Huybrechts vs Ryan Searle
The close looking matches keep on coming on Sunday afternoon with the second one seeing two unseeded players looking to make it back to the last 16 in what is a big match for both Kim Huybrechts and Ryan Searle with all the riches that is on offer in this event.
Both these men have been in decent touch in this competition so immediately there is the thought that this one could be quite tight. I think Huybrechts has been the better of the two and it is interesting that in their two proper meetings away from the Home Tour that Huybrechts has won both of them, including a 10-8 win in the UK Open earlier in the year. The Belgian has averaged over 100 in both his matches in this tournament to date and just looks that little bit cleaner with his work. I think the odds against on him winning this one is worth a bet.
Dimitri Van den Bergh vs Jermaine Wattimena
The final match of the afternoon sees two of the best that the continent of Europe has to offer going at it when the World Matchplay champion Dimitri Van den Bergh takes on the fast improving Dutch ace Jermaine Wattimena in a contest which might be closer than people expect.
Wattimena is underrated but if he ever brings his floor game onto the big stage with him then he is going to be tough to stop because when he gets a groove going he can be relentless. Speaking of relentless, that is what Van den Bergh has been in the big events since the sport restarted after winning the World Matchplay and making it through to the semi-finals of the Grand Slam where he was touched off in a deciding leg. I fancy this will be closer than the odds suggest but I’m not a short price player which I’d need to be on the handicaps I’d want to be on.
There is a bet that I like though and that is Van den Bergh to hit more than 6.5 180s. He has been scoring very well throughout the last few months and hit six maximums in 11 legs in a match where rhythm would have been hard to come by against Paul Lim in the last round. He should get a much smoother rhythm here and over more sets I expect more 180s to come along as a result.
Tips
Back S.Whitlock – Over 8.5 180s for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with William Hill
Back him here:
Back K.Huybrechts to beat R.Searle for a 3/10 stake at 2.05 with 888sport
Back him here:
Back D.Van den Bergh – Over 6.5 180s for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Betfair
Back him here:
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