The knockout stages of the Grand Slam of Darts gets underway on Wednesday evening when the eight remaining players in the top half of the draw take to the stage at the Aldersley Leisure Village looking to book a quarter final spot.
We didn’t really lose anyone of any significance in the group stage in this half of the draw so we have the likes of the defending champion Gerwyn Price, world finalist Michael Smith and former world champion Rob Cross on show.
Raymond van Barneveld vs Simon Whitlock
The opening match of the knockout stage sees two experienced campaigners going at it when Raymond van Barneveld takes on Simon Whitlock for a place in the last eight which both men could do with as they look to address their ranking ahead of the World Championship.
Barneveld came through on top of a group which included Gerwyn Price and Dave Chisnall. He won all three matches and got better the longer the group went on which bodes well for him here. Whitlock came a cropper against Danny Noppert in his group but came through against Mensur Suljovic and Christian Perez to make it into the last 16 and now he’ll be looking to make hay. To be fair to Whitlock, he produced three averages in the high 90s in the group phase so he is entitled to feel he is the favourite here but he just misses too many clutch doubles for my liking these days. Barneveld has had to battle hard for the opportunity this week and we know he is a big match player. That has never left him. I think he can just be the tighter of the two when it matters to come out on top here.
Michael Smith vs Rob Cross
The second of the matches on the evening might well turn out to be the pick of them as the world finalist Michael Smith continues his search for an elusive TV title when he takes on the former world champion Rob Cross.
Smith cruised through his opening group and looks to be continuing the form which took him to the final of the European Championship recently. Cross will know he is a lucky man to still be in the tournament after he survived countless match darts from Martin Schindler in what was a straight knockout final group game so he might think he is on a free roll here and free his arm up and play his best stuff. He will need to find something close to his best game though because his last two displays have been very indifferent. Matches between these two tend to be tight but I’m not sure Cross is playing well enough to make it close. A combination of some missed doubles from Smith and an elevation in form from Cross could soon see it go that way though so I’m happy to watch this one rather than bet on it.
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Danny Noppert vs Gerwyn Price
The penultimate match of the evening sees the defending champion Gerwyn Price continuing his title defence when he meets the man who won the UK Open earlier in the year in Danny Noppert, in another standout tie.
Noppert breezed through his group with the minimum of fuss but the same can’t be said of Price who had to survive missed match darts by Dave Chisnall to allow him to book his place in the last 16. You sense that with the format elevating to the best of 19 from here on in we will see a much better Price here, and Noppert felt the full force of the Welshman at the World Matchplay where Price nailed a nine-dart finish in a semi-final win. Noppert is nothing but game though and he’ll give this his all. I sense the match is in the hands of Price. If he plays well he’ll probably win this but Noppert is capable enough for me to leave this one alone and just enjoy the spectacle.
Dirk van Duijvenbode vs Joe Cullen
The last match of the evening could very well turn out to be the pick of the games on show as well as the exciting and entertaining Dirk van Duijvenbode takes on a Joe Cullen who always seems to roll under the radar despite reaching the Premier League final earlier in the year.
There is no doubt that Dirk is a much improved player and a title of this magnitude will come his way in the not too distant future but he can still beat himself a little at times and that still puts me off throwing too much of my hard-earned at him. Cullen is a lot more consistent these days but he still has too much of a brilliant or terrible element in him and that puts me off going too deep on him in terms of staking on him to win. There is a bet I like here though and it comes in the van Duivenbode 180s. You can get 4/6 on him to go over 5.5 of them but over 6.5 goes up to 5/4 so well over half a point more for a single 180 more. Dirk hit nine 180s in the group stage which is a decent effort and in a European Tour match earlier in the season which van Duivenbode won 6-3 he hit eight 180s. There will be almost double the number of legs in this match so that suggests there will be ample time for the Dutchman to plough in a seventh 180 before the winning double is hit here.
Tips
Back R.van Barneveld to beat S.Whitlock for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with BetVictor
Back him here:
Back D.van Duijvenbode – Over 6.5 180s for a 3/10 stake at 2.25 with Boylesports
Back him here:
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