Year: 2018

Home / 2018

July12July 20, 2018

US Darts Masters: Gary Anderson Defeats Rob Cross To Land The Title In Las Vegas

The Flying Scotsman, Gary Anderson, returned to his winning ways this past weekend after winning his sixth World Series of Darts crown in the US Darts Masters final against Rob Cross. Taking place on Saturday at the Mandalay Bay Casino & Resort in Las Vegas, the World number two produced a superb comeback to win 8-4 win over Cross.

Anderson’s road to the title

Anderson, a two-time world champion, showcased his undoubted class with a series of determined performances as he took the title, his first ever win in Vegas. The performance came as he cast aside DJ Sayre easily before moving on to the Canadian youngster Dawson Murschell, who he vanquished in a 8-5 quarter-final win, despite trailing 3-2 early on.

He came up against James ‘The Machine’ Wade — who had earlier beat Michael van Gerwen 8-3 — in the semi-finals in a match that went all the way to a deciding leg despite Wade leading 6-2 at one point. Anderson hit back to level before edging 7-6 ahead only to miss double ten for a 140 checkout and with it, the win. He didn’t need to wait long, which followed shortly after he bagged a 75 to nick the win and move into the final.

Once in the final, World champion Rob ‘Voltage’ Cross soon laid claim to a 3-0 lead, which turned into 4-1. Anderson, however, jumped on the opportunities Cross’ missed doubles presented him, and in a run of seven legs, he leveled and overtook his rival before storming to victory, with a stunning 164 checkout.

Cross’ route to the final was also a tricky one, meeting both Michael Smith and Peter Wright on Saturday’s final day. Smith was dismissed for 8-6, with the pair each landing seven maximums, while Peter Wright was shot down 8-3 in the semi-finals.

The eight PDC stars all now relocate to China ahead of the next World Series of Darts event, the Shanghai Darts Masters, on July 13-14. At the time of writing, no prices have been updated in the sportsbook of the online bookmakers Betway.

2018 World Matchplay

The full draw for the biggest darts event of the summer has been made. The 2018 World Matchplay takes place at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool from July 21-29.

Last year Phil Taylor marked his final appearance on his declared favourite stage with a 16th World Matchplay title, beating Michael van Gerwen in the process. This year, MVG is the favourite to overcome the 32-player field and claim the now-renamed Phil Taylor Trophy.

That said, the likes of Rob Cross, Gary Anderson, Peter Wright and Michael Smith will all have something to say about that. Below we have listed the first round, with the 16 seeded players paired with the 16 qualifiers from the one-year ProTour Order of Merit.

Michael van Gerwen v Jeffrey de Zwaan
(16) Adrian Lewis v James Wilson
(8) Dave Chisnall v Keegan Brown
(9) Michael Smith v Jonny Clayton
(5) Daryl Gurney v Steve West
(12) Gerwyn Price v Joe Cullen
(4) Gary Anderson v Stephen Bunting
(13) Raymond van Barneveld v Kyle Anderson
Peter Wright v Jelle Klaasen
(15) Kim Huybrechts v John Henderson
(7) Simon Whitlock v Richard North
(10) James Wade v Jermaine Wattimena
(6) Mensur Suljovic v Steve Beaton
(11) Ian White v Max Hopp
Rob Cross v Mervyn King
(14) Darren Webster v Steve Lennon

July4July 5, 2018

Michael van Gerwen Lands A Nine-Dart Finish In Hamburg

By Peter FryersIn

Darts Betting Tips

The first nine-dart finish in the PDC European Tour in five years was recorded last weekend by, who else, Michael van Gerwen as he overcame Ryan Joyce in Hamburg on Saturday night. The last nine-darter on the European Tour was achieved by Ross Smith in the Gibraltar Darts Trophy five years and a day earlier.

The Dutchman’s perfect leg came during his 6-2 win over qualifier Joyce from Newcastle, as MVG sought out a sixth European Tour triumph of 2018. His sixth European Tour event title, which also happened to be his 15th PDC title of 2018, came after defeating William O’Connor 8-2 in the European Darts Matchplay final.

On his way to the final, Mighty Mike beat Robert Thornton 6-1, Ian White 6-4 and Stephen Bunting 7-4 before destroying O’Connor, who was playing in his first ever European Tour final. The Dutchman has now triumphed in 26 European Tour events and has 109 career singles titles in total.

Attention now turns to the Las Vegas Strip, specifically the South Pacific Ballroom at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino which will host the North American Darts Championship and U.S. Darts Masters from Thursday July 5 through Saturday July 7.

Thursday will see eight domestic qualifiers battle for the North American Darts Championship, all hoping to emulate 2017’s champion, South Dakota policeman Willard Bruguier to win a place in the World Championship in London this December.

Eight of the world’s top stars will join their North American rivals to compete on Friday, July 6 in the opening day of the U.S. Darts Masters. The action will conclude on Saturday, July 7 with the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final.

Players confirmed to be there include the reigning champion Michael Van Gerwen, World Champion Rob Cross, Peter ‘Snakebite’ Wright, two-time World Champion Gary Anderson, James Wade, Michael Smith, Daryl Gurney and Gerwyn Price.

The Dutch world number one is, of course, the favourite with the online bookmakers Betway, pricing him at the odds of 8/11. This is quite a drop from the second favourite Gary ‘The Flying Scotsman’ Anderson’s 7/1. As the prices begin to drift outwards, it is worth noting that each-way bets pay at a third of the odds for the first two places, which basically means that we should be looking for the finalist who will inevitably meet with MVG in the USDM final.

With that in mind, Rob ‘Voltage’ Cross and Peter ‘Snakebite’ Wright are priced at 7/1 and 9/1 respectively. Going further down the money line, you’ll find Mensur Suljovic available at 25/1, while Daryl Gurney can be backed at 33/1. James Wade (33/1), Michael Smith (33/1) and Adrian Lewis (40/1) are all worth considering, particularly Smith who impressed in this season’s Premier League. Raymond van Barneveld is another 40/1 shot, half the value of Dave Chisnall at 80’s. Simon Whitlock (100/1) and Gerwyn Price (125/1) make up the numbers in Sin City this year.

June30June 30, 2018

Mensur Suljovic Defeats Simon Whitlock In Danish Darts Open Final

By Peter FryersIn

Darts Betting Tips

The Big Gentle, aka Mensur Suljovic, claimed his first European Tour title of the season as he beat Simon ‘The Wizard’ Whitlock in the final of the Danish Darts Open in Copenhagen’s Brondbyhallen last Sunday.

This was the inaugural event in Denmark, where the Austrian and the Australian went head-to-head. Suljovic, currently the reigning Champions League of Darts champion, saw out an 8-3 win for his fifth career PDC event and second European Tour trophy.

For Whitlock, it was his first European Tour final in four years as he looks to improve his game ahead of the second half of the season. Unfortunately for The Wizard, his magic was as scarce as his luck, leaving Suljovic to average almost 100 across all three of his Sunday games including the final.

Earlier on in the weekend, Mensur had no problem getting past Ryan Joyce 6-1 in Saturday’s second round. He followed that victory by putting together a narrow 6-5 win over Darren Webster to reach the weekend’s final session where Peter Wright was waiting. Snakebite offered no threat and the Austrian ace fought his way to a 6-4 win before coming out on top in a 7-6 thriller against Adrian Lewis to make the final.

For Whitlock, this was his first European Tour title shot since 2012 and he got there by beating the in-form Dutchman Jermaine Wattimena 6-3, before holding off the challenge of Ricky Evans to win 6-5 and qualify for the quarterfinals. Once there, the Aussie saw off Mervyn King 6-4 before crashing Steve West out in a 7-4 score line to set up the final with Suljovic, which was both players their first ranking final of the year.

The PDC European Tour continues from Friday the 29th through to July 1, with the European Darts Matchplay in Hamburg, Germany. While coverage will be available online at PDCTV-HD, online bookmakers Betway are yet to produce a book on the event.

2018 tournament results so far

PDC World Championship 2018 Final: Rob Cross 7-2 Phil Taylor
The Masters (PDC Major) Final: Michael van Gerwen 11-9 Raymond van Barneveld
Premier League Darts (PDC Major) Final: Michael van Gerwen 11-4 Michael Smith
UK Open Finals (PDC Major) Final: Gary Anderson 11-7 Corey Cadby
European Darts Open (European Tour) Final: Michael van Gerwen 8-7 Peter Wright
German Darts Grand Prix (European Tour) Final: Michael van Gerwen 8-5 Peter Wright
German Darts Open (European Tour) Final: Max Hopp 8-7 Michael Smith
Austrian Darts Open (European Tour) Final: Jonny Clayton 8-5 Gerwyn Price
European Darts Grand Prix (European Tour) Final: Michael van Gerwen 8-3 James Wade
Dutch Darts Masters (European Tour) Final: Michael van Gerwen 8-5 Steve Lennon
German Darts Masters (WSD Event) Final: Mensur Suljovic 8-2 Dimitri van den Bergh
World Cup of Darts Final: Netherlands 3-1 Scotland