The second round of the PDC World Championship continues on another double session day of action on Sunday as more of the stars of the sport look to book their place in the last 16 of the tournament.
Saturday saw wins for Jamie Caven, Dave Chisnall and Gary Anderson. All won comfortably on the scoreboard but Chisnall and Anderson’s matches could have gone the other way had crucial fifth leg doubles been taken.
Unfortunately Boxing Day was another tale of what could have been for me with Kist missing his 180s line by one and Gurney spurning a large number of darts and a double to bring in a second set which would have covered his handicap.
That was frustrating but we’ve six matches to go at on Sunday and I’ll do just that. The afternoon begins with the match between Michael Smith and Steve Beaton. Smith is a warm favourite to win the match and it would be a surprise if he doesn’t but Beaton played well in the first round and merits respect on that.
I’m still not completely keen on Smith as a huge favourite but to be fair whether he plays well or not he always scores well and I would imagine he is going to get a nice rhythm in this match so I can see him scoring well here.
Usually when Smith is playing well he scores a 180 every other leg or so and I think he’s going to score well here. He hit 10 180s in this round 12 months ago against a Brendan Dolan who gave him no rhythm so that shows the potential he has to cover a solo 6.5 180 line.
Two youngsters do battle in the second match of the day when Dimitri van den Bergh looks to back up his fine win over Ian White when he takes on Benito van de Pas. Van de Pas saw off Max Hopp in the opening round and he’s the favourite to win here.
These two are two fine young talents but with all youngsters consistency can be an issue. If the Belgian can back up his first round performance he’s got every chance but the real question is whether he can or not. I’ll leave the game alone.
I will play one in the final match of the afternoon though. That sees Vincent van der Voort taking on Kyle Anderson in a close looking match on paper. I think van der Voort will probably edge it but the prices are about right in the match betting.
Anderson would have every chance if he can pin the combination finishes to a decent percentage but I’m not convinced he will. I think both men will score heavily though and I expect this one to go six or seven sets so to cover the 12.5 180 line we only need on average one maximum from each player per set assuming it is as close as it looks.
That looks good enough to me because both these men know where the 60 is as they showed in the first round when they hit eight between them in two one sided wins.
The evening session begins with the clash of the tournament so far as Raymond Barneveld meets Stephen Bunting for the second year in a row. Barneveld won 5-4 in the quarter final when they met 12 months ago and I’m expecting him to win here too but he’s a pretty short favourite and he isn’t always reliable these days.
Bunting is showing signs of a return to form but he still misses far too many doubles for my liking so this one is just going to have to be a match to watch and enjoy rather than get stuck into from a betting point of view.
James Wade plays Wes Newton in the second match of the night and whichever way I look at this I’m only seeing a Wade win. Newton was rank awful in the first round and I’ve still no idea how he won. He won’t be that bad again, it would be impossible to be that bad again but he’s got to find 20 points on his average to be genuinely competitive here and I just don’t see it.
Newton might put three solid legs together to win a set but overall I’m expecting this to be one way traffic. Wade scored heavily in the first round, as he has been doing for a while now, and he finished pretty well too and with Bristow in his corner strengthening Wade’s ruthlessness I’m expecting a Wade win without too much anxiety.
Finally Michael van Gerwen looks to move into the last 16 when he takes on Darren Webster. He’ll be looking to progress a lot more comfortably than he did in the first round when he was given the mother of all scares.
In truth Darren Webster shouldn’t get close to him and by virtue of the fact MVG knows what to expect from him I don’t think he’ll allow Webster to get too close but given how he switched off completely in the first round I’m in no rush to plough into any short prices.
Back M.Smith Over 6.5 180s for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Titanbet
Back V.van der Voort vs K.Anderson – Over 12.5 180s for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Sportingbet
Back J.Wade vs W.Newton – Under 20.5 legs for a 5/10 stake at 1.73 with Betway
