The second round of the World Grand Prix begins on Tuesday night as the top half of the draw is played down to the quarter final stage.
Among the players in action on Tuesday are the defending champion Michael van Gerwen, Adrian Lewis and the 2013 runner up Dave Chisnall. All three will go into their matches as favourites to progress but history shows this tournament isn’t always as straight forward as that.
We’re now up to the best of five sets which allows a little of the pressure to come off the big names but we’ve still got the double format which keeps everyone on their toes.
The action begins with two youngsters doing battle as Michael Smith faces Jamie Lewis. Both men can consider themselves fortunate to come through the opening round as both had to survive match darts to progress but one of them will end this match in the quarter finals.
Michael Smith looked laboured at times in his win over Gerwyn Price but when he finally clicked he looked very good and so the task for him now is to maintain his best form over the entire match. If he does he’ll believe he can come through.
Considering Jamie Lewis was making his debut in the tournament and had the crowd on his back I thought his performance in the opening round was very creditable. He struggled in the first leg but after that he got away well, scored consistently and despite a bit of a wobble when the finishing double came along he finally got through.
I’ve already backed Lewis to win his quarter at a huge price and while I’m tempted to back him here at another huge price I’ll resist that temptation. He’s no near 3/1 shot and I wouldn’t put anyone off but I’ll sit back and hope he wins to set up a great shot at landing a decent outright.
Dave Chisnall takes on Jelle Klaasen in the second match of the night and this is a match I like a bet in. I thought Chisnall was the most impressive player on the opening night of the tournament and I was impressed with how he bounced back from the disappointment of losing the first set against Peter Wright.
Chisnall’s starts were very good and that is half the battle here because he has such scoring power that if opponents don’t steal a march on him at the start of the leg they might not see the double to finish it.
Jelle Klaasen also come from a set down in the opening round but Dolan flattened out somewhat really after that and while credit should be given to anyone who comes from a set down to win in the crazy format of the first round it would be only right to suggest he needs to find plenty more to win here.
I don’t read too much into the averages in this tournament but when both missed a similar amount of finishing doubles in their first round wins the fact Chisnall had a 7pt advantage in the averages says plenty to me. He’s the most consistent player of the two and while Klaasen might improve for the better rhythm he’ll get I expect Chisnall to be too strong for him here.
The match of the night follows when Michael van Gerwen takes on Kim Huybrechts. Both are top talents now but there seems to be something about this tournament that Huybrechts doesn’t enjoy. I sense he struggles for a rhythm with the double start and that isn’t good.
Van Gerwen went sloppy for a set in his win over Keegan Brown in the first round but in the two sets he won he completely dominated and he’ll expect to come through here. Huybrechts might make life tricky for the Dutchman but I don’t see an upset here.
The final match of the night sees Adrian Lewis taking on Mark Webster. Lewis was the only man who won without dropping a set on Sunday but that was as much because Barneveld just never showed up than anything outstanding from Lewis.
That said Lewis did nothing wrong and you sense there is a confidence forming in the twice world champion and that is ominous for the rest of the field.
Mark Webster took care of Stephen Bunting in the first round with his doubling ability coming to the fore but Bunting had all the chances he needed to win he just bungled them all. I don’t expect Lewis to pass up the same number of chances so I’m expecting Jackpot to deliver the goods to end the evening.
Webster’s doubling is good enough that he might nick a set on the way to defeat but the prices and handicaps in this one look about right so I’ll stick with Chisnall for my only bet on this card.
Back D.Chisnall (-1.5 sets) to beat J.Klaasen for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Coral
Blog darts YTD: +25.39*
*with Monday’s bet outstanding
