The second round of the World Grand Prix begins inside the Morningside Arena in Leicester on Wednesday evening when the bottom half of the draw are back in action to play down to the quarter final stage of the competition.
That means that we have the defending champion, world champion and the five-time winner of this tournament all on show on what has the potential to be a really special night of arrers from start to the finish.
Adrian Lewis vs Chris Dobey
The opening match of the night is the only one which doesn’t involve a seeded player as the former finalist Adrian Lewis takes on a Chris Dobey who has been to the semi-final in this tournament in the past, in what should be a tasty clash.
These two were very impressive in the opening round. Lewis took care of Jose de Sousa in straight sets while Dobey was a straight set winner against a Luke Humphries who admittedly wasn’t at his best. If you look at the numbers Lewis was slightly better than Dobey but I suspect a lot of that was because Dobey wasn’t tested to the level that Lewis was. I also suspect Lewis played so well because he was an underdog in that match and I fancy now he is favourite we could see a different Lewis under a bit more pressure. Dobey is pretty much free rolling at this stage whereas Lewis will be eager to win to push for a World Championship seeding. We also can’t ignore the head-to-head here which reads 5-1 to Dobey who has won the last five. I think the odds against on the outsider is worth following in a match Dobey might be the one able to throw with more freedom in.
Peter Wright vs Krzysztof Ratajski
This tournament has thrown up a number of repeat matches from the World Matchplay and the second game of the night provides us with another as the world champion Peter Wright takes on Krzysztof Ratajski.
Wright edged out his Polish foe 13-11 in Blackpool in one of the matches of the year so far and there is certainly a case to be made for the Pole running the world champion that close again here, if not getting the better of him. Wright was extremely fortunate that Kim Huybrechts couldn’t hit a closing leg double in their first round meeting else he’d be on his way home. We know Wright isn’t short of confidence judging by his words after that match but he needs to show his best on the stage rather than in front of a microphone. The only reservation I would have with backing Ratajski is he seems to falter in the big moments against the big players. In this last year he was edged out in a deciding set by Jonny Clayton and generally Ratajski is a player who will take advantage of an open draw but when he runs into a truly top gun he comes up short. I suspect that will happen here but the display of Wright in the first round doesn’t make me rush to back him.
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Michael van Gerwen vs Stephen Bunting
The penultimate match of the evening sees two former world champions going at it when Michael van Gerwen goes up against Stephen Bunting in what could be a thrilling contest if both perform to the best of their abilities.
These two cruised through the opening round but there were clear weaknesses for both. Bunting couldn’t buy a starting double for large periods of his win over Brendan Dolan but scored pretty well and finished well too. Van Gerwen got away and scored ok in his win over Gary Anderson but hit 6/24 on the finishing double and was fortunate that the Scot was even worse. I guess you can’t lose a leg if the opponent doesn’t start but you can’t win one if you don’t finish it so it will be interesting to see which player makes the best necessary improvement. If it is Bunting he’s more than a live runner here but if it isn’t he could go down 3-0 in no time. I’ll watch rather than pay to find out here.
Jonny Clayton vs Dimitri Van den Bergh
The closing match of the night is the pick of the matches with the highlight once again left until last when Jonny Clayton and Dimitri Van den Bergh take to the stage in what they will hope will be an earlier start time than the pick of the matches on Tuesday.
These two are class acts who can win any tournament they enter. Clayton has proved he can win this having done it last year but he wasn’t great in the opening round and had the crowd not messed with the head of Dirk van Duijvenbode, the Welshman might have joined a long list of defending champions to go out in the first round. Van den Bergh played very well in beating Dave Chisnall on Monday night. The bare numbers will tell you these two were the two worst winners in this half of the draw in the first round but that was only because of a very heavy start by Van den Bergh and Chisnall. In the second and third sets, DVDB averaged 91.2 and 90.5, which is world class darts. Clayton’s average never left the 80s in what was an average display and while we know he can offer better, there was a lot to like about the Belgian on Monday and he might just be the value pick here.
Tips
Back C.Dobey to beat A.Lewis for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with Bet365
Back D.Van den Bergh to beat J.Clayton for a 3/10 stake at 2.20 with Bet365
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