Sunday is semi-final night at the PDC World Darts Championship with both matches taking place in a tasty looking evening session inside Alexandra Palace, a stanza where we will determine the two men who will battle it out for glory in the final on Monday evening.
We are up to the best of 11 sets for these semi-finals so the amazing quality that we saw on Saturday evening is set to continue, as is the drama and tension given the prize that the four arrow smiths are throwing for.
Michael Smith vs James Wade
The opening semi-final pits two men yet to get their hands on this title against each other when Michael Smith takes on James Wade. Smith will be bidding for a spot in his second world final while Wade will be looking to make it that far for the first time.
I don’t think it is doing anyone a disservice to suggest that this match is in the hands of Smith. That sounds weird when you consider he is 17-4 down on the head-to-head but he has a 13 point advantage on the tournament average over the course of this event and has seen off arguably the two best players in the world right now in the last two rounds in Jonny Clayton and Gerwyn Price. You could argue the crowd assisting him in overcoming Price but that would be harsh on the quality Smith delivered in that match. Wade has done little to nothing of note in this tournament. He isn’t averaging 90 for the event but he has only dropped one set. There is no doubt that he’ll need to raise his game hugely to contend here but he might get some help from Smith in that regard as we see time and time again how hard it is for players to back up huge emotional efforts one game to the next.
One thing we know about Wade is that he’ll play up or down to the level of the opponent but even if he raises his game he might still need help from Smith lowering his to be able to win here. I suspect that might happen but we need to respect the fact Smith has gone well in his last two matches so the bet I like here is for there to be six or more 100+ finishes in the contest. We know Wade is a clinical finisher and Smith has been hitting big checkouts all event. Smith had four ton plus finishes in his quarter final and although Wade didn’t have one, he was under no pressure in that match. He is usually good for some so I expect half a dozen ton plus outs here.
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Peter Wright vs Gary Anderson
The second semi-final is an all-Scottish affair as two former champions meet when Peter Wright takes on Gary Anderson in what should be a cracking clash to determine who moves through to play for another world title on Monday night.
Wright had to come through an absolute epic quarter final contest against Callan Rydz on Saturday evening and he goes up against an Anderson who twice had to come through deciding sets earlier in the event but who was in control of his last eight clash with Luke Humphries. Anderson has visibly got better throughout the tournament and we saw last year that we should probably expect that trend to continue here too. I guess the big question here is how Wright will back up from his win on Saturday night but he is an experienced enough campaigner to think that he’ll cope accordingly.
With that in mind, I think we’re in for quite a tussle here, one which could easily go to a deciding set. I’ve a hunch that Anderson will sneak this one but I think the over 9.5 sets offers a lot more security. Both men know how to peak in these big matches and given that chances of going this deep aren’t guaranteed for either in the future neither will want to give up without giving their all. I see this ending 6-4 or 6-5 whoever wins it.
Tips
WON – Back M.Smith vs J.Wade – 6 or more 100+ checkouts for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Coral
WON – Back P.Wright vs G.Anderson – Over 9.5 sets for a 3/10 stake at 2.30 with Coral
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