World Matchplay Darts Preview – Saturday, July 27th at 7.15 pm
Reigning BDO World Champion Glen Durrant has continued to make some massive strides in his first-ever PDC World Matchplay tournament. He is through to the semi-finals after a string of brilliant results and he is playing some of the best darts of his career right now. Will Michael Smith, who has flown under the radar, be able to stop him in Blackpool?
Glen Drurant v Michael Smith Winner Odds*
Glen Durrant 8/11
Michael Smith 11/10
* (betting odds taken from bet365 on July 26th, 2019 at 11:45 pm)
Can Duzza make the Matchplay final?
What a tournament it has been from Glen Durrant. He was handed a tough draw and has faced seeded players all the way, but he hasn’t batted an eyelid. He looks almost unplayable at the moment. He opened with a thumping 10-4 win over former PDC World Champion Adrian Lewis and that put some strong wind in his sails. Duzza then came up big in a thrilling battle with PDC World Number One Michael van Gerwen in the second round. Durrant took a 13-11 win in the match, holding his nerve in a match which swung both ways.
That was some performance from Durrant and there was a little concern that having claimed such a big win early on, he would burn out in his quarter-final against James Wade. No such chance of that happening. Durrant never gave The Machine a look-in during the match, streaking away to a 16-7 win. That was though his lowest three dart average in a match for this tournament hitting just under 93. But that doesn’t matter. He got the job done as he has against two other top-class players at the Winter Gardens so far. Can he extend his journey even further?
Can Smith keep up his steady progress?
Fifth seed Michael Smith has had a very different journey to that of Glen Durrant at the World Matchplay 2019. Smith has yet to face a seeded player and with Durrant not being one either, it is something of a favourable draw than that he has had. The way that Duzza is playing at the moment though, this will be the toughest game that Smith has faced in this year’s tournament hands down. He is going into the final four match as the underdog. Smith opened with a first-round 10-7 win over Jamie Hughes before beating max Hopp 12-10.
In the quarter-finals, Bully Boy was up against Meryn King who had put in an inspired performance to beat reigning champion Gary Anderson in the second round. Smith handled himself really well there with a 16-11 victory. He has been scoring consistently well has Smith and no-one has produced more maximums in the tournament than he has (16). He also crushes the rest of the field for the tally of 140+ scores. He was the runner up at this year’s World Championships and took a quarter-final finish at the Masters and a semi-final at the UK Open this year.
Prediction
Glen Durrant is all the rage at the Blackpool Winter Gardens. However, we are going to predict his demise here, one stop short of the final. The reason for that is his three dart average dropped drastically in his quarter-final match-up. Smith has just been consistently in the zone through this tournament. Although this is his first real step up in quality of opposition, he is a threat here. It will be interesting to see Duzza’s mentality hereafter eyeing up what he will probably see as an easier match. Smith can surprise at 11/10 odds.* (betting odds taken from bet365 on July 26th, 2019 at 11:45 pm)
