The first round of the World Matchplay finishes on Monday night as the last four games in the opening set of fixtures are played at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool. There is just the one session of play on Monday but there are no shortage of big names and indeed no fewer than four world champions and two world finalists will grace the stage.
Sunday Recap
Sunday was a better day for us. Our bets in the afternoon both won and one of them at a tidy enough price to get us underway for the tournament but sadly Alan Norris couldn’t get going on the doubles and his scoring suffered as a result. Even so two winners from three made for our first profitable day of the week and hopefully not our last.
On the oche there was a couple of major shocks as Kim Huybrechts and our pre-tournament pick James Wade bit the dust losing to Gerwyn Price and Mervyn King respectively while there were impressive performances from Gary Anderson, Ian White and Peter Wright with Adrian Lewis, Terry Jenkins and Mensur Suljovic the other winners on the double session day.
Jelle Klaasen vs Steve Beaton
The action begins with a battle of the former world champions as Jelle Klaasen takes on his bogeyman Steve Beaton for the right to face Michael Smith or Simon Whitlock in the second round.
Klaasen goes into the match knowing he hasn’t won a match on this stage since 2010 and although that statistic is slightly warped in that he hasn’t played here every year since then it does show that it might not be his favourite stage and format.
These two have met on 19 previous occasions with Steve Beaton having 13 wins to Klaasen’s six including six wins in their last eight meetings so there is something the Adonis likes about playing Klaasen and I’m guessing it is the rhythm that he gets given how fast Jelle throws.
Beaton comes into this match in excellent nick having made a final in Barnsley a couple of weeks ago and he also made a semi-final a little further back and he has beaten some really good players in that time. That form coupled with the head to head between these two leads to think Beaton is a spot of value here.
Raymond Barneveld vs Brendan Dolan
Maybe it is a Dutch thing because this has never been Raymond Barneveld’s best venue either. I’m sure with him it is a heat thing but he has a nice first round draw here against the grossly out of form Brendan Dolan.
The trouble for us looking at betting on the match here is that while Dolan has very few wins to his name this year he doesn’t get thrashed too often either so the 4.5 leg handicap is probably about right. I think the format is a little too long for Dolan to stay too close but he might just about be able to scare that cap.
None of the 180 markets or anything else really interest me in what I expect to be a fairly routine win for Barneveld but I’m not expecting it to hit the heights or anything. It is just about winning and getting into the next round so I’ll sit this one out.
Phil Taylor vs Robbie Green
We get to see how Phil Taylor is playing on Monday night when he takes on a dangerous Robbie Green albeit that danger is probably lessened by the length of the format. If this was a best of nine then you fancy Green would have a better chance of winning but he is capable and if he can get ahead and get a groove going on his scoring then he has nothing to lose and could just see the job through.
In order for that to happen Taylor is going to have to be off colour and while he is out of sorts more often these days than he ever used to be he may not be here as it is well known this is his favourite venue and tournament.
I would imagine Taylor will win and probably win with a few legs to spare but a 5.5 leg handicap looks about right so this is another one that I’m going to sit out and monitor how Taylor plays before maybe getting involved in his matches later in the tournament.
Michael Smith vs Simon Whitlock
The final match of the first round should be a decent enough encounter between two men who are capable of winning major tournaments but who are probably not quite at their very best at the minute.
Smith is improving overall in the game but that Premier League excursion does appear to have left a mark on him while Simon Whitlock is still recovering from a major loss of form which has seen him out of the big events so far this year. We did see glimpses in the World Cup that he’s playing well though.
I think this will be a nice match to watch. Both throw at a smooth pace and rhythm and both know their way around the 60 bed so I like the idea of 180s here. Neither are known to be ultra-secure on the doubles and that should ensure we get plenty of legs and if we do the way these two group a dart we have every chance of seeing 10 180s before this one comes to a conclusion.
I see this as a genuine 50/50 game perhaps with the slight edge to Smith if there is one but I fancy the 180s to come along much more than I do either to win.
Tips
WON – Back S.Beaton to beat J.Klaasen for a 3/10 stake at 3.50 with Titanbet
Back him here:
WON – Back M.Smith vs S.Whitlock – Over 9.5 180s for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Paddy Power
Back it here:
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