Friday night sees the semi-finals of the World Grand Prix taking place with four men eyeing up a place in the final on Saturday and the chance to win a major tournament.
After a week of shocks we are left with a surprising last four line up with only Michael van Gerwen of the top four seeds left in the tournament. Two other semi-finalists weren’t even seeded.
The semi-finals will be played over the best of seven sets with Robert Thornton taking on one of the two surprise packages in Mensur Suljovic before Michael van Gerwen takes on Mark Webster.
Mensur Suljovic has been a joy to watch in this tournament. He has this almost ignorant look when he plays but you can tell he is fiercely competitive and the darts he has thrown have been of the highest quality.
Robert Thornton has thrown darts which have been top quality in this tournament too so we’re set for a decent match here. Suljovic leads their head to head 5-4 and has won five of their last six meetings so he has found a formula that works against the Thorn.
I don’t think there will be a lot between these two in the end. Both are playing really well but at the prices and with that head to head record I’m going to side with the Austrian to continue his strong form this week.
Michael van Gerwen cruised past Jamie Lewis on Thursday night but he faces a much tougher test in the shape of Mark Webster on Friday night. Webster has seen off three world champions in this tournament so far and is eyeing up beating another one here.
Van Gerwen has won the last six meetings between the two men and eight of the last nine but four of those matches were 6-4 or 6-5 and their World Championship quarter final was 5-3 in sets so although MVG often wins when these two meet he rarely runs away with it.
With that in mind at strong odds against I’m going to chance over 5.5 sets in this match happy that Webster’s doubling ability could keep this closer than expected.
Back M.Suljovic to beat R.Thornton for a 4/10 stake at 2.38 with Ladbrokes
Back M.van Gerwen vs M.Webster – Over 5.5 sets for a 3/10 stake at 2.50 with Ladbrokes
Blog Darts YTD: +33.43pts
