The first round of the World Matchplay comes to a close with another session of darts inside the Winter Gardens in Blackpool on Monday night, with the line up for the second round of the competition being finalised over the course of the evening.
We have very much saved the best for last in terms of the first round sessions as among the four matches on show we have the two mouth-watering clashes and a couple of other decent games on a special schedule.
Damon Heta vs Ryan Searle
We get what could be a special night of darts underway with the Australian number one Damon Heta taking on a very dangerous challenger in Ryan Searle in what would have been one of the highlights of any normal session, but such is the quality on show on Monday night that it has to open the show here.
These two men both made it to the quarter finals here last year and have good Blackpool memories to draw upon as a result of that. They have been in decent touch this year too. Searle started the season off like a house on fire, making the final of the first three tournaments of the year and while he has gone a little dry since then he remains a heavy scorer and a danger to any. Heta has produced some very appealing performances this season and is getting so much better on the stage so I am expecting this to be a really good game. There is a pretty simple case to be made for over 16.5 legs in this one but if it is as close as that then at a better price over 9.5 180s might be the way to go. Heta is a very regular 180 scorer these days and while Searle doesn’t plough them in like he did when he came onto the scene, he is still always all around the 60. These two met on the European Tour earlier in the year and in 11 legs there were nine 180s. We should get more than enough legs for the extra one to come along here.
Michael Smith vs Gary Anderson
We head into those marquee first round matches for the second game of the night as Michael Smith takes on the man who was originally his mentor in Gary Anderson but who is now firmly his rival and a dangerous one at that.
Anderson has really come back to the boil in 2024 and if the player of the year was named right now he would be right in the conversation. Anderson has won a European Tour event and one on the floor but it hasn’t really happened for him in the TV tournaments for a while. He has only been to one televised quarter final since the 2022 World Championship outside of the World Cup so it might be that long format darts doesn’t suit him at his age. Smith has struggled a bit since he became world champion. He messed around with new darts that took him an age to get used to and he has never really looked quite the same player in terms of the sheer relentlessness of his scoring but he has been playing plenty of big stage matches in recent times. He made the semi-final of the Premier League and in two of the three World Series events and also the last European Tour tournament too and comes here buoyed from winning the World Cup last month. The longer he can take this the more I think he’ll get some joy and I do think it is significant that Smith has won the last five meetings between the two. I think the younger man is the value at odds against.
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Michael van Gerwen vs Luke Littler
The pick of the first round matches when the draw was made was the penultimate game of the opening part of the tournament as the former champion Michael van Gerwen takes on potentially the best debutant ever to set foot on the Blackpool stage in Luke Littler.
This will be the first and last time these two will ever meet in the first round of a tournament of this size with Littler hurtling towards the top 16 in the world but it throws up an absolute cracker for us to enjoy and every other player in the field will be delighted that one of these two giants of the game won’t be going any further. Littler is the favourite here and based on what we’ve seen in the last few weeks and doubts over just whether van Gerwen is fully fit I think that is justified but many a fancied debutant has struggled on this stage before. I don’t expect Littler to struggle but if van Gerwen can deliver one of those elite performances we know he has in him he can win this. The doubts over him are enough to leave this firmly as a watching brief rather than a betting one though.
Chris Dobey vs Ritchie Edhouse
The last match of the first round sees the second debutant of the evening taking to the stage when Ritchie Edhouse competes in the World Matchplay for the first time when he goes up against the former winner of The Masters in Chris Dobey.
Dobey will be favoured to win this and many will expect him to win it well but his stage form this season hasn’t been up to much and I just wonder if there is a hangover from the way he lost his World Championship quarter final to Rob Cross from 4-0 up. Edhouse has performed well on the tour to get his place in the World Matchplay. This is a very hard tournament to qualify for and given that he is down at 46 in the world rankings and the lower ranked player in the field he is probably playing with the house money just being here. Debutants do tend to struggle on this stage though unless they are fearsome youngsters and we’ve already seen the likes of Luke Woodhouse struggle. I’m in no rush to back Dobey but I don’t fancy Edhouse either so I’ll leave the closing match of the night alone.
Tips
Back D.Heta vs R.Searle – Over 9.5 180s for a 3/10 stake at 2.15 with Unibet
Back M.Smith to beat G.Anderson for a 3/10 stake at 2.20 with Bet365
