After a first round full of shocks, surprises and sizzling performances the second round of the BetVictor World Matchplay gets underway in Blackpool on Tuesday night and by the end of the evening we will know the quarter finalists from the top half of the draw.
There are some wonderful players on show in this session and some of the matches are nicely set up to go close. With the first round out of the way we’re up to the best of 25 legs now which should allow us to see even more quality which is what we all want.
Wright vs Gilding
The second round begins with a match that could be an absolute belter. Peter Wright, easily the most impressive performer in the first round, takes on Andrew Gilding, a man who will emerge as a superstar in this game over the next 12-18 months.
Wright had a very good win over a determined Kim Huybrechts in the first round and ploughed in a sensational 108.13 average in the process and if he repeats that performance here then he is going to take a lot of beating. There wasn’t a weakness in Wright’s game against Huybrechts. He scored well and finishes of 138 and 161 to close out the match showed there was nothing wrong with his checking out.
Andrew Gilding was involved in a bit of a battle with Mervyn King in the first round. He raced into a 7-2 lead against a disappointing King but found himself at 8-8 when King got going only to win the last two legs, the second with two 180s to come through 10-8. That could be a breakthrough victory for Goldfinger who has all the talent in the world but hadn’t shown it on TV until then.
I’m tempted to back over 21.5 legs in this match but I worry that Gilding, as much as I rate him, won’t produce the same performance he did in the first round and in truth even though he played well King still reeled off six of seven legs so I’ll sit and enjoy this one.
Whitlock vs White
Simon Whitlock went into the first round of this tournament without a win in a TV major since this tournament last year so he will have been glad to have got that monkey off his back. He actually played really well against Jelle Klaasen although the Dutchman was nowhere near his best. Whitlock’s scoring was good and for the most part he averaged just over a ton which was easily his best performance for a while.
Unfortunately for Whitlock, Ian White produced a first round performance that blew his out of the water. Halfway through his win over Stephen Bunting he was averaging north of 110 and was hitting 180s for fun. Naturally things fell away a bit from those heady heights but the man who has reached two finals on the pro tour in the last two months powered to a 10-6 win over a Bunting who was giving as good as he got.
The phrase ‘one swallow doesn’t make a summer’ springs to mind with Whitlock here and I need to see more from him before I fully believe he’s back. Even when he is back his weird checkout routes annoy me and put me off him. White is a steady, unflappable player and playing some excellent darts right now and I expect him to come through this test.
Van Gerwen vs J Lewis
Michael van Gerwen wasn’t at his best in the first round but he still had far too much for a disappointing Benito van de Pas. There won’t be too many times when the world number one doesn’t hit an average over 100 but that was one of them. It might just be first night nerves and I’m sure he’ll improve going forward in the tournament but he’ll have to.
It was hard to assess Jamie Lewis’ performance in that first round because you never get a rhythm against Justin Pipe but given who he was playing and the fact it was his debut on this stage I thought he accounted himself well. Unfortunately for the Welshman he runs into the main man here.
These two have met three times this year and Lewis has only won a total of five legs so I’m expecting this one to be one way traffic. The handicap line is pretty big but I expect van Gerwen to cover it so I’m happy to have a small bet on that.
A Lewis vs Price
Adrian Lewis had spells in his opening win against Joe Murnan where he looked like the quality player we know he is but he also had spells where his concentration left him and in the end he only just came through. He will need to keep his concentration here because Gerwyn Price showed in the first round that he can play.
Michael Smith had one of his off days against Price in the first round but Price still merited his win. He scored solidly enough and when the chances came his way he took them. I expect him to play similarly in this match but whether he gets the chances or not remains to be seen.
In many ways this match is all on Adrian Lewis. He should win and should win quite comfortably but if he switches off then it could get difficult. It is hard to fully trust Lewis at the minute and you’d need to if you was taking him to cover a big cap so I’ll sit this one out.
Back I.White to beat S.Whitlock for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Sportingbet
Back M.van Gerwen (-6.5 legs) to beat J.Lewis for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with BetVictor
