The evening session at the PDC World Darts Championship on Wednesday sees the third round of the tournament ending and the last 16 beginning on what looks to be a truly tasty night of action inside the Alexandra Palace.
The current world champion and a former one take to the stage as well as three if not four genuine runners for this title on a night where the quality, intensity and drama should come along in rich supply across the three matches.
Gary Anderson vs Ian White
The last of the first round matches sees the former champion Gary Anderson taking on a man in Ian White who should really have a much better record here than he does. Rob Cross awaits the winner in the last 16 on Thursday.
Both these men have had their issue with injuries in recent times and there is a feeling that they both come into the tournament underdone but one of them will come out on top here and you would imagine it will be the one who shows the most composure on their doubles. Experience would suggest that will be Anderson given he has been here and done it and tends to get himself up for the big events. One concern would be that it feels an absolute age ago that he took care of Adrian Lewis in the previous round so he is entitled to start a little slowly. I can’t say I have a strong feeling about this one either way so I’m happy to leave this one alone.
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Gerwyn Price vs Dirk van Duijvenbode
We begin the last 16 in the second match of the night as the defending champion Gerwyn Price continues his title defence when he takes on the mercurial Dutch ace Dirk van Duijvenbode in what should be a decent watch at the very least.
Both these men had to come through a deciding set to progress in the previous round. Price actually had to win a deciding leg in that last set in a match where he only really played his best stuff in patches. That might be enough to get the job done here too but if he gets the timing of those patches wrong he could be in a bit of trouble. Van Duijvenbode has come from 2-0 down and 3-0 down to make it into this stage so he simply has to start on time here or else he’ll be departing the competition with his tail between his legs. The safer bet here is over 14.5 180s. These two tend to average above a 180 every other leg when they meet. There were 15 in 30 legs in the World Grand Prix final last year and six in eight legs in the World Series Finals earlier this year. Both men have demolished the 60 in the previous round and can continue to cane it here.
Jonny Clayton vs Michael Smith
The final match of the night should be an absolute pearler between two of the best players in the world to watch when Jonny Clayton plays host to the former finalist Michael Smith as two genuine contenders for this title battle it out for the right to face the winner of the previous game in the quarter final.
Clayton has won four TV tournaments this year and continues to look a million dollars but he missed a lot of doubles in his win over Gabriel Clemens in the previous round and that has been an issue of mine with the Welshman in the past. Smith made hard work of his third round win against William O’Connor because he missed a stack of doubles in the last two sets himself but he had the scoring power to get enough chances to get over the line. I don’t see him having that scoring advantage here so he needs to be much more efficient on the doubles. They both do. This should be a close match though and this is another one where I expect the 180s to flow. Smith ploughed in 10 of them in six sets against O’Connor while Clayton popped in seven in four sets against Clemens. They also scored 14 between them in the first round and those ratios combined should see us well beyond 15.5 180s here without the need for the natural improvement which will come with matches under their belts.
Tips
Back G.Price vs D.van Duijvenbode – Over 14.5 180s for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with Betway
Back J.Clayton vs M.Smith – Over 15.5 180s for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Betfair
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