World Matchplay Darts Preview – Thursday, July 25th, 2018 at 9:15 pm
In an epic night of darts, reigning BDO World Champion Glen Durrant took out the reigning PDC World Championship Michael van Gerwen at the Winter Gardens. It was an astonishingly high-quality match and it confirmed that Durrant can more than handle himself on the PDC following his switch this year. Standing in his way next is former World Matchplay champion, James Wade.
Glen Durrant v James Wade Odds*
Glen Durrant 4/5
James Wade even money
* (Betting Odds were taken from bet365 on July 23rd 2019 at 8:28 p.m.)
Can Durrant beat Wade at the World Matchplay?
What a stunning night of Darts on Tuesday at the Winter Gardens this week. With reigning champion Gary Anderson crashing out against an inspired Mervyn King, making even bigger headlines was Glen Durrant. The three-time BDO World Champion proved himself in a stunning duel against the PDC World number one Michael van Gerwen. It was something special, a high quality match which swung one way and then the other and back again. Durrant closed out the deal 13-11.
This is where he wanted to be, proving himself against the best on the PDC. He’s done that and that was after beating former World Champion Adrian Lewis 10-4 in the opening round. Next in his targets is the eighth seed, James Wade. Durrant has claimed a couple of Players Championship PDC titles this year since his switch. He’s handling the pressure at the Winter Gardens and his three dart averages over his two matches have been fantastic, 101.05 in the first round 99.56 in the second.
Can James Wade stop Durrant in Blackpool?
James Wade, now the only former World Matchplay winner left in the tournament with Anderson and MVG gone, has had some tense battles so far. He took his opening match against Jeffrey de Zwaan in a deciding leg to move through 13-12. It was another tight one for him as he was up against Mensur Suljovic, seeded just one place below Wade. It was as close as the seeding suggested with Wade crossing the finish line with a 13-11 win.
He has had to dig deep so far. The Machine is a six-time finalist at the World Matchplay through his career, claiming the title just once back in 2017. He has had a string of early exits in the last three editions though, this being the only time he’s made it past the second round in his last three editions of the tournament. With a semi-final recently in the Premier League he has shown a bit of form. Can he be the one to stop the dangerous Durrant in his tracks?
Predictions
Can Duzza go all of the way at the Winter Gardens? It would be some debut if he could. He should be in with a decent chance. Wade had been pushed to the limit in his two matches already and hasn’t been scoring as heavily as Durrant has been. If Durrant brings his A-game and doesn’t suffer a crash after the high of beating MVG, a semi-final place is there for the taking. Durrant to win.
