The European Championship concludes out in Dortmund on Sunday where two sessions of play will determine who wins the latest TV event and continues to build up for the World Championship in the best way possible.
Everyone left in the tournament bar one has won a TV tournament so the quality should be high throughout the course of the day. The quarter finals take place in the afternoon which we will preview here but time restrictions will deny us the chance to cover the semi-finals and final but we do have an outright still running which will hopefully provide some interest.
Chris Dobey vs Peter Wright
The opening quarter final sees two men who might not have expected to be in the quarter finals on show when Chris Dobey, the last man into the field this week, takes on a Peter Wright whose form over the course of the year hasn’t been getting him to this stage of too many events.
Both are here though and deservedly so, although you could wager that Dobey is a little more fortunate because Stephen Bunting was horrendous on doubles in their second round clash. In a way Michael Smith was too which allowed Peter Wright to get so far in front of him and in the end Snaky saw it out well but I said going into the tournament that there were signs Wright was beginning to tick again and I certainly think we have seen that so far this weekend. These two have met three times in 2023. Dobey won the first two back in the Premier League but Wright wasn’t really at the races in that tournament. Their latest meeting was in the last European Tour event a fortnight ago when Wright won and that feels more significant to me. I don’t expect there to be too much between these two but Wright has that marquee checkout in him at the right time which could tip the edge in his favour and he is a fair enough price to back.
Gerwyn Price vs Danny Noppert
The second quarter final on Sunday sees the former world champion Gerwyn Price looking to move to within two wins of finally getting his hands on this trophy when he takes on the UK Open champion of last year in Danny Noppert.
Both these men have come through their draw fairly comfortably and done it by being solid rather than anything too spectacular but you sense something will happen here with both men eager to move into the semi-finals. Price hasn’t really been pushed so I suspect there is much more to come from him, whereas Noppert has been and might have played at the level he has with him this week. One concern for me is how long it took Noppert to hold throw against Rob Cross in the second round on Saturday and if he lets Price break his throw a couple of times early there might not be any coming back. I expect Price to win this but the odds are fully reflective of that.
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Luke Humphries vs James Wade
We move into the bottom half of the draw for the third of the quarter finals as the newly crowned World Grand Prix winner Luke Humphries goes up against a man with multiple TV titles on his mantelpiece in James Wade.
It has been good to see Wade going well this weekend but I’m sure he’ll be the first to admit that neither Dirk van Duijvenbode or Jose de Sousa showed up against him. Neither averaged 85 against him so you worry about Wade when someone does show up and you’ve got to think with the form he is in Humphries will do exactly that. He has polished off seasoned competitors in Brendan Dolan and Krzysztof Ratajski with the minimum of fuss and now faces another one who he can outscore. This one is in the hands of Humphries and while he is looking more assured as a favourite these days, the odds aren’t really there to back him.
Michael van Gerwen vs Gian van Veen
The last of the quarter finals sees two Dutchmen battling it out when Michael van Gerwen looks to move closer to regaining this title when he takes on a player who will be competing in his first TV last eight clash in the promising youngster Gian van Veen.
Van Veen has been very good so far in this tournament in taking care of Damon Heta and Daryl Gurney and now he faces the most significant test he has come up against so far. Van Gerwen was slightly fortunate to come through in the first round but played very well in the second round and looks like the man to beat at this stage. It is hard to see van Veen coming out on top in a match of this magnitude but it will be interesting to see how close he gets to the Dutch legend. I suspect in order to get too close he’ll have to have some help with missed doubles from MVG and they’re not guaranteed. This feels like a match to watch rather than attempt to answer the questions before a dart is thrown.
Tips
Back P.Wright to beat C.Dobey for a 3/10 stake at 1.85 with Coral
