The third round of the PDC World Darts Championship comes to a close and the last 16 of the tournament gets underway on another tasty session of arrers inside Alexandra Palace on Thursday evening.
Things are beginning to get serious now with quarter final spots on the line in the biggest tournament in the sport. The money is going up in large amounts too and so the six players on show will be eager to win their match.
Luke Humphries vs Vincent van der Voort
We begin with the one remaining third round match which sees Luke Humphries looking to continue a fine 2022 campaign when he bids to reach the last 16 once again when he takes on the veteran Dutch player Vincent van der Voort.
Humphries looked like he might have been in trouble in the second round when he was having difficulty getting rid of Florian Hempel but his scoring power eventually came to the fore and he was a comfortable winner in the deciding set in the end. Van der Voort had no such problems. He blew Cameron Menzies away and in the first couple of sets in particular there were signs of the van der Voort of old. The question mark here will be whether the Dutchman can maintain that standard for longer in this match which he will surely need to do. On the flip side of that, Humphries can miss doubles so if van der Voort can stay close he could benefit from that. Something tells me this will get awkward for Humphries but he is hard to oppose in truth. I’ll sit this one out.
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Gerwyn Price vs Jose de Sousa
We begin the last 16 in the second match of the evening and we do so with the world number one back on the big stage as Gerwyn Price takes on the man he beat in a brilliant World Matchplay quarter final in the form of Jose de Sousa.
De Sousa has had to perform a couple of Houdini escapes in this tournament so far, coming from 2-0 down to Simon Whitlock in the second round to win 3-2 and then 3-0 down to Ryan Searle in the third round before winning 4-3. He is definitely going to need to start this match better if he is to avoid getting blown away but the fact he only played on Wednesday afternoon and hasn’t had days between matches should ensure that happens. Price hasn’t been anywhere near his best in this tournament but he has come through with relative ease. He beat Raymond van Barneveld 4-0 in the last round but the body language of Barneveld gave away the fact early doors that he didn’t fancy the job and so the crowd couldn’t really get into the match. This time I think Price will come through but I’m certain he’ll be challenged here just because the scoring power of de Sousa is so strong. It is that scoring power which interests me. De Sousa has a 180 line which is only 7.5, a line he covered in the previous round despite not playing for the first three sets. Assuming he starts stronger here we should expect one of the better 180 hitters in the game to run up eight 180s in what should be five if not six sets of action.
Jonny Clayton vs Josh Rock
The pick of the matches on the evening could well be the final one to take to the stage as the former Premier League champion Jonny Clayton looks to make it through to the quarter final of the tournament for the first time when he takes on the young superstar Josh Rock.
I mentioned in the previous round how I’m not convinced that Rock should be going into matches against over this format on this stage at odds on against the likes of Nathan Aspinall and now Jonny Clayton. Aspinall should have beaten Rock but couldn’t find a double for love nor money but if he could he had Rock on toast. You could argue the same thing was the case with Callan Rydz against him in the round before. Clayton is a seasoned professional who not only knows how to prepare for these matches of huge magnitude but he knows how to perform in them and win them. To be fair, this is entitled to be tight as both their meetings in 2022 went 6-5 with a win each but in the match Rock won Clayton was 5/18 on his doubles. He is hitting his doubles at much nearer 50% in this tournament and while not the heaviest scorer in terms of 180s has the consistent scoring to keep the pressure on his opponents. Rock will be special but this is all new to him and I think he’s waiting for someone to finish him off. At odds against again I can’t resist backing Clayton to be the man to do it.
Tips
Back J.de Sousa – Over 7.5 180s for a 3/10 stake at 2.20 with Coral
Back J.Clayton to beat J.Rock for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with William Hill
Back him here:
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