PAINTER to be suffer shock first round defeat in the World Matchplay

The World Matchplay Darts gets underway Saturday night and begins with a battle between two old friends Terry Jenkins and Andy Smith. Bookmakers make Bull the favourite as he leads the head-to-head record 6-3 though odds of 3/5 (BWIN) do not inspire confidence. After this game we get Raymond van Barneveld against Mensur Suljiovic and James Wade against John Part both of which you would expect the favourite to win with ease.

The pick of the Saturday games is the one that pits Simon Whitlock against Jelle Klaasen. Klaasen was in good form in the European Championships reaching the quarter-final. The Dutchman produced a three-dart average of over 100 in seeing off Mervyn King and scoring just under when narrowly going down to Michael van Gerwen. Whitlock made the final in that event and is in good form but he did go out in the first round here last year. Klaasen can raise his game on a day to the level of Whitlock so I would suggest he looks overpriced in the handicap market where with a 2.5 leg start he can be backed at 19/20 (boylesports).

The first game of the sunday afternoon session is a battle between Mark Webster and Justin Pipe with bookmakers making Pipe the 3/5 (BWIN) favourite. This looks to be a tight clash between two players of a similar standard and this might go the distance.

Next up is the game between Kevin Painter and Jamie Lewis and Lewis looks much too big for victory at 5/2 (sportingbet). Lewis reached his first final on the main Tour at the Gibraltar Darts Trophy where he lost to Phil Taylor. One of the players he beat en-route to the final was Painter and I see no reason why he can not do the same here.

Kim Huybrechts takes on Peter Wright in the third game of the afternoon it what should be an intriguing battle. Wright recently won his second career title averaging an incredible 118.66 in his quarter-final victory over Gary Anderson. He could be value at evens (GENERAL). Brendan Dolan takes on Steve Beaton in the last game of the day and this promises to be close with Dolan 9/10 (boylesports) and Beaton 11/10 (SKYBET/sportingbet).

The first game of the sunday evening session could be a close one as Mervyn King takes on Gary Anderson with the Scot 4/6 (sportingbet/paddy Power). His form though has been awful this season and I could not be backing him at this price.

The second game of the evening should be an interesting one between Dave Chisnall and Paul Nicholson. Bookmakers make Chisnall the 4/7 (bet365/paddy Power) favourite though the head-to-head record is 3-3 so there might be value in Nicholson at 7/4 (SPORTINGBET).

The next two games should be comfortable victories for the big players as Taylor takes on Stuart Kellett and Michael van Gerwen faces Colin Lloyd.

The bet of the night Monday comes game between Adrian Lewis and Ronny Huybrechts. The Belgian has been in good form this year and made the semi-finals of the European Championships. He is more than capable of staying with the handicap margin with 4.5 legs on his side which is 3/4 (betway). The other games thate evening sees Robert Thornton take on Ian White, Andy Hamilton meets Ronnie Baxter and the game of the night sees Wes Newton take on Jamie Caven.

BEST OF THE BETS

GOLD: Jamie Lewis to beat Kevin Painter, 5/2 (SPORTINGBET)
SILVER: Ronnie Huybrechts +4.5 on handicap v Lewis, 3/4 (betway)
BRONZE: Jelle Klaasen +2.5 on handicap v Whitlock, 19/20 (BOYLESPORTS)

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21/07/2013     © Frixo 2026