The evening session at the PDC World Darts Championship on Monday sees four of the best players in the world on show as they bid for places in the last 16 of the biggest event of the season inside the Alexandra Palace in London.
World champions such as Gary Anderson and Glen Durrant will be looking to make it through to the last 16 while stars who are eyeing up a first world title in the form of Gerwyn Price and Mensur Suljovic will also be looking to make progress.
Gary Anderson vs Mensur Suljovic
The opening match of the night is possibly the pick of the evening matches in terms of the fact that it is the only one with two TV tournament winners in it when Gary Anderson takes on Mensur Suljovic in what is a repeat of THAT World Matchplay final of a couple of years ago.
Anderson won that epic contest 21-19 and that shouldn’t be forgotten because I’m sure the narrative that will come across ahead of this contest is that Anderson hates playing Suljovic. That is a lazy myth really because the Scot has won their last four meetings and although he won’t enjoy playing the Austrian, he certainly can’t argue with the results he gets against him. Both men played fairly well in the previous round which might have been a surprise as neither were in great form coming in here. The Anderson injury remains a concern if this goes deep and ordinarily I’d be looking to take him on but Suljovic has a terrible record here so I’m happy to leave this one alone.
Special Offer
Bet on the PDC World Darts Championship with Boylesports and get DOUBLE WINNINGS on ALL MARKETS if both players hit a treble with their first dart! ALL CUSTOMERS! NEW CUSTOMERS WHO OPEN AN ACCOUNT ON A MOBILE CAN ALSO BET £10 AND GET £10 FREE! Click the image below to bet. 18+ T&Cs apply. Gamble responsibly.
Gerwyn Price vs Brendan Dolan
The second match of the night sees the new second favourite for the tournament, Gerwyn Price, going up against a man who will be looking to tread the rarefied air of the latter stages of the World Championship in Brendan Dolan.
There was a lot to like about the performance of Dolan in the previous round whereas if we are being honest there wasn’t as much to enjoy about the display of Price if you are a supporter of his. If both continue on that path then the Northern Irishman could cause the Welshman plenty of problems. Whether this recent drop in form is the aftereffects of a heavy period when he won the World Grand Prix and the World Series Finals or a continuation of not liking the absent crowds or even just the pressure of expectation we may never know. What we do know is that Dolan isn’t playing with any of that and that may give him a chance if not of winning to keep Price honest. I wouldn’t want to oppose Price but there are plenty of reasons to leave him alone at such a short price.
Glen Durrant vs Danny Baggish
The final match of the night sees the three-time BDO world champion Glen Durrant taking on the surprise package from America in the form of Danny Baggish for the right to take on Dirk van Duijvenbode in the last 16 of the competition.
Baggish deserves an enormous amount of credit for his efforts so far in this tournament. Not only has he seen off two established opponents in Damon Heta and Adrian Lewis and improved as he has gone along in the competition, but he beat the second of those opponents after the news of his brother suffering a stroke which is an immense effort. He will be playing with emotion but also freedom here which could make him dangerous. All the pressure is on Durrant in this match and while we never have any concerns in his ability to handle that where we do have doubts is over his recent form.
Durrant suffered a bout of Covid-19 and has been absolutely nothing like the same player since he returned. The only assumption we can make from that is that he suffered badly and still hasn’t completely recovered. The other issue for ‘Duzza’ is he hasn’t played for 11 nights. That is good in the fact he’s had all that time to practice and get his game back, but as we saw with Peter Wright on Sunday evening it also allows some rust to creep in. Given that I think he’ll offer the rest of the tournament more I hope Durrant wins this match but I think the odds against on Baggish at least taking this to a decider looks the way to bet this game.
Tips
Back D.Baggish (+1.5 sets) to beat G.Durrant for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with Coral
Back him here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2020
