The first round of the World Grand Prix concludes inside the Mattioli Arena in Leicester on Tuesday when the players in the bottom half of the draw get their campaigns underway in the quirky double start format event.
That means that we get to see the likes of Michael Smith, the former winner Gerwyn Price and the six time champion of this event in Michael van Gerwen for the first time this week as they look to showcase their early title credentials.
First Four Matches
The night starts with the man who has twice been to the final of this tournament as Dave Chisnall looks to win a match in the World Grand Prix for the first time in three years. Cameron Menzies is the man who will be looking to stop that from happening on his debut in the event. When they are done Dimitri Van den Bergh starts his quest for a second TV title on the year when he faces off against Luke Woodhouse. Damon Heta will look to make progress in the third match of the session when Mike De Decker stands in his way before we reach the halfway point of the evening with Peter Wright going up against the former champion James Wade.
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Later Four Matches
Another former winner gets the second half of the evening up and running when the 2020 champion Gerwyn Price is on the stage. He’ll take on a Danny Noppert who has sneakily been playing well for a while now. When they are done arguably the tie of the first round takes place as Michael Smith faces off against his former mentor Gary Anderson for the second Sky major in succession. Michael van Gerwen starts his quest to get his title back in the penultimate match of the night when he plays yet another man who has got his hands on the trophy in the past in Daryl Gurney before the first round concludes with two former winners of The Masters as Chris Dobey faces the man he took that title from in the form of Joe Cullen.
Betting
Dimitri Van den Bergh doesn’t have the greatest record in this tournament with just one quarter final appearance in five attempts and he arrives in Leicester having won just four of his last 17 matches and three of those wins were against players ranked outside the top 100 in the world rankings so the form of the Belgian has fallen off a cliff. You often find that it is the confident players who come through this quirky format and Luke Woodhouse should be that after he reached the semi-final of the latest Players Championship event last week. Admittedly, that snapped a seven match losing run but it was only a month ago that Woodhouse beat Gerwyn Price on his way to the quarter finals of a European Tour event so that losing run was very bizarre, although in Scott Williams, Nathan Aspinall and Wessel Nijman he had some awkward draws. Woodhouse beat Dave Chisnall on debut in this last year before going down in three deciding legs in a 3-0 defeat to the eventual champion Luke Humphries. Woodhouse feels like a decent price here.
Another man who feels like a big price is Danny Noppert. He has been banging in 100+ averages regularly recently. He hit six of them in 11 matches in the Players Championship events last week and has 12 in his last 29 matches in all competitions. If he is clicking to that level here then Gerwyn Price is going to have his hands full. The record of Price in this event does have to be respected by everyone because it is very good but I think it is fair to suggest that this isn’t the fully motivated and invested Price that we have seen in previous years and he feels vulnerable if Noppert can keep this close. Price has only won two of his last seven matches and has lost his last two to the Dutchman as well. When you add in that the crowd might easily have a few bevvies by the time this one gets onto stage and there is enough reason to take on Price and back Noppert at an acceptable price.
Tips
Back L.Woodhouse to beat D.Van den Bergh for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with William Hill
Back him here:
Back D.Noppert to beat G.Price for a 3/10 stake at 2.38 with Boylesports
Back him here:
