The second part of the PDC World Darts Championship action on Thursday comes along in the evening session where we have four more second round matches as we close in on the pause in the tournament for Christmas.
We have some big names taking to the stage inside Alexandra Palace on Thursday evening including the former champion Gary Anderson. He headlines a card which is full of big names and household faces.
Gary Anderson vs Madars Razma
The opening match of the night sees Gary Anderson beginning a quest for a third world title when he takes on the Latvian number one Madars Razma who has the potential to go a long way in this tournament but probably not the consistency.
Anderson has had a poor year by his standards and that has increased the volume of the talk that he is finished at this level. His poor form has only been down to a lack of practice though and we know he is usually bang on it for this event. That is guesswork at this stage though but he isn’t likely to need his highest gear to come through against a Razma who plays in bursts but even his good bursts rarely last long enough to win sets regularly. I would expect Anderson to have few problems here but until we’ve seen him in action and been able to assess his level and his form he isn’t really a betting proposition.
James Wade vs Jim Williams
The second match of the evening could very well turn out to be the pick of them when James Wade begins another tilt to win a world title which has so far proved to be elusive in his career. He meets the former world finalist Jim Williams.
Williams holds a TV win over Wade having beaten him at the Grand Slam last season so he won’t fear the more established man and neither should he because Williams himself is a class act who showed his ability in the middle sets of his match against Sebastian Bialecki in the opening round. If we ignore the first set of that match when Williams admitted he was nervous, he averaged 95.9, 102.2 and 95.9 in the three sets which followed, incredibly losing the middle one of those, before coming from 2-1 down to win a good match 3-2. We’ve not really seen him at his best this year. He has made the semi-final of the Premier League and the World Series Finals but in between all that were a lot of early TV exits and he only appeared in three European Tour events. That said, Wade is still top quality but he lacks the scoring power to come away from opponents and his finishing hasn’t always been there this year. Williams averaged 97.89 for the first nine darts in his opening win which will keep him in most legs and a 42% checkout will see him competitive at the end of legs. I’ve a feeling Wade might just come out on top if this gets truly tight but I certainly think there is enough in the Williams game to get this into a decider even if he doesn’t come out on top.
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Luke Humphries vs Florian Hempel
The highest ranked player on show on the night is Luke Humphries and he will walk onto the stage for the third match of the night when he takes on one of three German players left in the tournament in the shape of Florian Hempel.
Humphries has had a brilliant year, winning four European Tour titles and then ending it in great form with runs to the semi-finals at the Grand Slam of Darts and the Players Championship Finals, the latter where he ran into an unplayable Michael van Gerwen. Humphries has twice been to the quarter finals of this tournament so he should be feeling really good about things coming into this one. Hempel had to come from 2-1 down to Keegan Brown in the opening round and had to do that to keep hold of his tour card. As you would imagine that match got extremely edgy but now his future is secure you would imagine he’ll be able to play a little freer and when you consider his first nine average was 95.29 and he was 13/30 on his doubles he doesn’t really need to add a huge amount more to those numbers to be extremely competitive here. Nevertheless, it is hard to oppose Humphries but he does have a bit more pressure on him here and I would rather see how he performs with it before I back him.
Vincent van der Voort vs Cameron Menzies
The final match of the night sees Vincent van der Voort looking to put a largely forgettable year behind him when he takes on Cameron Menzies who will be aiming to make it through to the third round on debut in the competition.
This has been a very indifferent year for van der Voort but he generally beats who he should do here and then loses when he gets in with the elite. He has only lost his opening match twice in 14 years and was only beaten by Covid last year. Menzies came through against Diogo Portela in the opening round but he won’t need me to tell him he will need a massive improvement on that effort if he is going to be competitive here let alone win. His 86.75 first nine dart average and 85.92 overall one isn’t going to hurt anyone at this level. I am actually a big Menzies fan but he is hard to trust in a tight game because of the emotion and heart he shows in his game. If you go back to the WDF World Championship he was much the better player against Thibault Tricole but the Frenchman held himself together better in the decider and I suspect similar could happen here. Van der Voort has suffered some early exits in recent stage events but he regularly averages in the mid-90s and even as high as 96.61 and 96.36 at the World Series Finals and Players Championship Finals. If he has that level with him here then I think he’ll be tough to beat even allowing for a more improved showing from Menzies.
Tips
Back J.Williams (+1.5 sets) to beat J.Wade for a 3/10 stake at 1.87 with BetVictor
Back him here:
Back V.van der Voort to beat C.Menzies for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with William Hill
Back him here:
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