Taylor favourite to retain Grand Prix title

Pdc World Grand Prix

Darts
Published: 02/10/2014

The PDC Darts World Grand Prix 2014 starts at the Citywest hotel in Dublin on Monday 6th October with Phil Taylor looking to claim his 12th victory in the tournament. The World Grand Prix is a special event in that each leg must be both started and finished with a double. This makes the Grand Prix unique as all other televised tournaments may feature different formats in terms of legs and sets scoring but none of them start and finish with a double for each leg played. This should not trouble top quality players too much, who are able to aim for a double of their choosing to commence the leg, mostly either double 20 or double 16.

With 32 of the world`s very best darts players on show, it`s Phil Taylor once again who sits at the top of the pile as far as the bookies are concerned. Taylor kicks off his campaign on the opening night, along with other top stars, James Wade and Adrian Lewis and is favourite at 9/4 to win the event. The Power`s form going in to the tournament has been good, enjoying a successful period of play in Australia and the Far East recently, bringing the Sydney Masters title home as a result. Having withdrawn from the European Darts Trophy in Germany, Taylor is obviously keen to focus on the World Grand Prix and will fancy his chances on opening night against former World Championship winner Steve Beaton. Taylor is clear favourite at 1/8 with SkyBet to win this match, with Beaton the outsider at 13/2 to cause a big upset in the first round. Taylor will be desperate to do well here and reclaim the world number one spot from Dutch rival Michael van Gerwen so it`s hard to envisage the Englishman coming unstuck in his first round match.

Michael van Gerwen will not be keen to lose his number one ranking and will want put his recent final defeat to Michael Smith at the European Darts Trophy behind him. The `Green Machine` begins his tournament with a match against close friend and fellow Dutchman Vincent van der Voort but friendships will be put aside once the match starts. The world number one kicks off on Sunday night and is 1/5 with BetVictor to defeat van der Voort and 7/2 with boylesports to lift the trophy. Michael Smith will be full of confidence after his European Darts Trophy victory over van Gerwen, especially after losing four finals on tour this year and can be backed as an outsider at 28/1 with SkyBet.

The first round match that many darts fans are looking forward to is the contest between Dave Chisnall and crowd favourite, five time world champion Raymond van Barneveld. The Dutchman needs a good run in Dublin to help keep himself inside the world top 16 but will not have things all his own way against a man who went all the way to the final last year. Indeed, Chisnall will be looking to put on a good display having lost that final 6-0 and can be backed at 11/10 with BetVictor to defeat Barney and 33/1 to win the tournament with paddypower. Darts fans know that van Barneveld is capable of beating anyone on his day but can be very inconsistent and paddypower offer odds of 22/1 for him to win the event which reflect where the Dutchman`s game is at right now.

Other potential winners to look out for include Scotland`s Gary Andersen who has been handed a tough start to the tournament with a match against local favourite Brendan Dolan. Andersen is available at 4/9 to defeat Dolan with BetVictor and 12/1 to go all the way and win the tournament with paddypower. Other players to look out for include former Grand Prix winner James Wade, 18/1 with paddypower to win the event and former world champion Adrian Lewis who is 12/1 with the same firm. However, at this stage it is difficult to look beyond the defending champion Phil Taylor and he`s the man everyone will have to beat if they want to win the World Darts Grand Prix this year.

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Any odds displayed within this article were correct at the time of publishing (02/10/2014) but are subject to change.

02/10/2014     © Frixo 2024

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