The first round of the PDC World Darts Championship draws to a close and the second round continues inside Alexandra Palace on Wednesday when two more sessions of play take place, beginning with the afternoon action.
Former world finalist Dave Chisnall is one of two seeds on show in the afternoon session and we have a couple of young stars who will be hoping to make a big impression on this tournament as well so this is another good looking session.
John O’Shea vs Darius Labanauskas
The opening match of the day sees two players who are currently better known for their BDO/WDF exploits than their PDC ones when the former Winmau World Masters winner John O’Shea goes up against Darius Labanauskas for the right to face the European champion Ross Smith.
Labanauskas has made it through to the quarter finals here in the past but he hasn’t had the best of years and had to qualify for this tournament through the Nordic and Baltic Tour. He will hope that now he is here he will be inspired into showing his best form. O’Shea makes his debut in this tournament but he has enough big stage experience to cope with that so we should be in for an interesting contest here. If the last 12 months are anything to go by then O’Shea should probably be favourite but this is another of those potential five setters settled by a missed double here and there. I wouldn’t want to pick the winner although something tells me this stage will bring the best out of the Lithuanian. One area where there could be a clear gulf is in the 180 department. If you put both tours together, Labanauskas has hit 96 180s in 98 matches on the Players Championship and Nordic and Baltic circuits or 96 in 856 legs, roughly one every nine legs. O’Shea’s Players Championship numbers are 107 in 60 matches, 554 legs in total so roughly one in five legs. On the year overall that equates to O’Shea hitting double the amount of 180s over the same period of time so the 11/10 he covers a 1.5 180 handicap looks a big price to me.
Martijn Kleermaker vs Xicheng Han
The last first round match of the tournament sees the Dutch player Martijn Kleermaker looking to make it through for a clash against Chris Dobey in the next round when he goes up against the Chinese qualifier Xicheng Han.
Xicheng is here as a replacement for the man who beat him in the PDC China Premier League in Zong Xiaochen who had to pull out because of Covid. Looking through the statistics for that competition, Xicheng played 19 matches and in seven of them averaged in the 70s and averaged 80.10 in another so almost half of his games were down in a 70 or low 80 average. The new season of that competition has begun and in three of his five matches his averages were 61.71, 75.15 and 67.16 so you kind of fear for him in this atmosphere on this stage. Chinese qualifiers have a terrible record here. We didn’t have one last year due to Visa issues but the two in 2021 won two legs between them and in 2019 Yuanjun Liu picked up just one leg. Zong Xiaochen took a couple of sets off Kyle Anderson in 2020 but he looks the standout Chinese player right now. Kleermaker hasn’t had the best year in the world but he’s made a quarter final and a few last 16s on the floor with a season average of 90.01 and a first nine average of 97.64 so he is going to outscore his Chinese foe here and barring an absolute mare on the doubles the tall Dutchman, who made the last 16 here last year, should come through here without dropping a set.
Special Offer
Open up a Boylesports account during the PDC World Darts Championship and bet £10 to get £20 in free bets PLUS a price boost on each player in the full house market in EVERY match! Click the image below to take up this fantastic offer! New accounts only. 18+ T&Cs apply. Gamble Aware
Callan Rydz vs Josh Rock
The first of the second round matches on the day is one most people are looking forward to as two of the best young talents in the game meet when Callan Rydz goes up against the new kid on the block in Josh Rock with Nathan Aspinall awaiting the winner.
Rock has already had a match in this tournament which he won against Jose Justicia 3-1. He had a 93.36 average, hit three 180s and was 10/21 on the doubles so that was a very respectable debut outing, one which he can be expected to build on here. Rydz made the last eight here last year so he knows a thing about this stage but he’ll need to hope those memories come flooding back and inspire him because he has not had the best year in terms of TV success apart from the two Minehead events, but his 95.66 season average was enough to get him to a final on the floor as well as a semi-final and a couple of quarter finals. Rock has shown great signs and so he is a worthy favourite here but the best of Rydz is more than good enough to give him a game and potentially come out on top. I don’t really want to call this but if the two earlier bets have won I won’t be able to resist 5/2 on Rydz to win this.
Dave Chisnall vs Andrew Gilding
The last match of the afternoon sees the former world finalist Dave Chisnall going up against Andrew Gilding for a third round spot in what will be a repeat of the final of the Belgian Darts Open from earlier in the season.
Chisnall won that final 8-6 and he’ll go into this match as a favourite to emulate that success. Gilding has already had a match on the oche this week when he came past Robert Owen in a deciding set in a match he was a firm second best until the Welshman inexplicably thought he could take on the crowd and come out on the right side of it. He couldn’t and he didn’t but Gilding is going to need to show a significant improvement on that effort to win here, or he’ll need Chisnall to miss plenty of doubles. I suspect Chisnall might have a point to prove here after Covid chucked him out of the tournament a year ago. He has been in good nick for a few months now and barring something close to the best of Gilding I see nothing but a Chizzy win here. It is Chizzy’s first match though and Gilding could improve so I’m happy to leave the St Helens man alone at a short price.
Tips
Back J.O’Shea (-1.5) Most 180s vs D.Labanauskas for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with Betfair
Back M.Kleermaker to win 3-0 for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with BetVictor
Back him here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2022
