Michael van Gerwen Out On The Opening Night Of The World Matchplay

Michael van Gerwen Out On The Opening Night Of The World Matchplay

MVG Matckplay Loss on Opening Night

The Darts World Matchplay betting was blown wide open in a huge upset on the opening night at Blackpool’s Winter Gardens as the world number one and odds-on pre-tournament favourite, Michael van Gerwen was knocked out by countryman Jeffrey De Zwaan.

With 15 victories for 2018 so far, Mighty Mike had been aiming to win his third World Matchplay title , including the Darts Premier League and the Masters. Unfortunately for MVG, he fell one victory short after losing 10-6 to JDZ, who also beat MVG in the third round of the UK Open. As a result, every player has seen their odds slashed for glory, with Gary Anderson now Betway’s favourite at 11/4 while Rob Cross is 4/1 and Peter Wright now at 13/2.

With the game tied at 6-6, 22-year-old De Zwaan — ranked 68 in the world — reeled off the final four legs to set the Winter Gardens atmosphere alight. In doing so, he set up a second round clash with Adrian ‘Jackpot’ Lewis, who eliminated James Wilson 10-8 earlier in the opening match of the night. A one-time finalist here, Lewis — 12/1 for the outright win — began strongly, taking the opening two legs before Wilson fought back to lead 7-3. Two-time world champion Lewis then dug deep to get back in the match and closed to within a leg of victory at 9-8 before landing a superb 116 finish and secure his place in the second round.

Other Matchplay action

Elsewhere, Premier League runner-up Michael SmithJonny Clayton 10-6 in the last match of the night. Bully Boy, fresh from claiming the Shanghai Darts Masters title, was averaging 10 points more than Clayton, but was only leading by 7 legs to 6 before winning the final three legs to set up an intriguing tie with Dave ‘Chizzy’ Chisnall in round two. Chizzy was the 10-4 winner in his match against Keegan Brown.

On the Sunday, Gary Anderson and Rob Cross both reached the second round comfortably. The Matchplay title has always eluded The Flying Scotsman but after MVG’s elimination a night before, Anderson must surely now fancy his chances. He opened up against Stephen ‘Bullet’ Bunting, who was ahead 5-3 at one point, only for the two-time world champion to win six of the next seven legs to move to the brink of victory. The Bullet pulled a leg back but Anderson, who averaged 97.48, won the final leg to take the tie. He will now meet Raymond van Barneveld after beating Kyle Anderson 10-6 in Sunday’s final match.

World champion Rob ‘Voltage’ Cross, the tournament’s second favourite, brushed aside Mervyn King 10-5, recording the highest average of the tournament so far with 98.58 to set up a second round clash with Darren Webster. Last week we told you to keep an eye on two-time quarter-finalist Mensur Suljovic. Well, he is still going strong and recorded his first win over Steve Beaton in nine attempts with a 10-6 victory. Betway have The Big Gentle priced at 12/1 for an outright tournament victory.

One player not making it through to the second round is Gerwyn Price who was thrashed 10-3 by Joe Cullen, the highest ranked non-seeded player heading into the tournament. Cullen now meets 18/1 shot Daryl Gurney who is safely through following his 12-10 comeback victory over Steve West.

Peter Wright nailed a 170 checkout as he swept aside Jelle Klaasen 10-5 in a match where Snakebite opened up a 6-1 lead but then hobbled over the finish line as his Dutch rival showed resistance. He now plays Kim Huybrechts on Wednesday night when James Wade will also be meeting Simon Whitlock, while Mensur Suljovic goes against Ian White and Rob Cross meets Darren Webster.

World Matckplay Betting Tips

As for tonight, the fixtures and their Betway prices look like this:

  • (21/10) Dave Chisnall v Michael Smith (4/11)
  • (8/13) Daryl Gurney v Joe Cullen (13/10)
  • (21/10) Jeffrey De Zwaan v Adrian Lewis (4/11)
  • (30/100) Gary Anderson v Raymond van Barneveld (5/2)

It is also definitely worth taking note of the following price boost; Smith, Gurney, Lewis and Anderson all to win, now 4/1 from 3/1.

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Phil Taylor Takes On Mighty Mike In Blackpool

Phil Taylor Takes On Mighty Mike In Blackpool

It has been a superb opening first week of the 2017 Darts World Matchplay as a whole host of big names dropping out early doors. Naturally, this doesn’t include Michael van Gerwen who is, of course, still in the hunt with his usual murderous intentions.

The big Dutchman steps out on Friday against Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor having dismissed Simon Whitlock on Wednesday night as he rolls on into tonight’s quarter finals.

Peter ‘Snakebite’ Wright was the star man last night after smashing Darren Webster 16-12 in the second of yesterday’s QF games, the first being Daryl Gurney’s follow up match to his brilliant victory against Gary Anderson on Tuesday. Then, Gurney beat world number two and second seed Gary ‘The Flying Scotsman’ Anderson 11-9 and last night he followed up that brilliant achievement with another as he ran out the 16-13 winner against Mensur Suljovic.

Anderson’s defeat in the week saw him join James Wade, Gerwyn Price, Justin Pipe and Kim Huybrechts in the ranks of the eliminated and Wednesday night thinned the herd even more as Dave Chisnall lost to Alan ‘chuck’ Norris who tonight faces Adrian Lewis.

Tonight also sees Phil Taylor take on Michael van Gerwen as the old master takes on the new king of darts. Taylor it was that ended the challenge of another hero of the game, Raymond van Barneveld on Wednesday night.

This headliner event is preceded by Alan Norris’ battle with Adrian ‘Jackpot’ Lewis. Should, as expected, Lewis win, he will play the winner from MVG and The Power, while Gurney will face off against Snakebite tomorrow from 7pm.

Latest Darts World Matchplay betting odds update

No prizes for guessing the outright favourite, who is by now a super odds-on shot at 2/5 with both Bet365 and Betway. We’re talking bout MVG naturally and, under normal circumstances, a Wright v van Gerwen final (4/6, Bet365) would look the safe bet, but with Gurney in such fine form right now, he could easily make the Sunday’s final two and is 2/1 to beat Peter Wright tomorrow night. A Gurney/van Gerwen finale is worth 7/2 with Bet365.

‘Snakebite’, has a best price of 7/2, also with Betway and Bet365, for the outright tournament win, while Daryl Gurney, showing fine form, is on offer at 10’s across the board.

‘The Power’ and his strong Blackpool following will be hoping he rolls back the years and takes the tourney, and MVG before that. He is 12/1 to for the outright win and 4/1 to beat Mighty Mike tonight. ‘Jackpot’ Lewis can be picked up at 20/1 and his opponent tonight, Norris, is 66/1 with SkyBet.

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Place Your Bets For The European Darts Open 2016

Gary Anderson
The PDC European Tour action resumed in Dusseldorf yesterday and, although some of the earlier first round matches will have started by the time you read this, the real action gets underway tomorrow when the big boys enter play.

The tournament runs from July 29 – 31 at the Maritim Hotel in Düsseldorf, Germany, with all matches to be contested over the best of 11 legs.

Absent from the sixth event of the series will be Phil “The Power” Taylor, beaten finalist in last weekend’s Matchplay final, and fellow Stoke thrower Adrian Lewis, leaving a clear straight shot for the likes of Michael Van Gerwen, Peter Wright and Gary Anderson, pictured above after his win in Tokyo. These all feature in a field of 48 players, including last year’s winner Robert Thornton (100/1), competing over three days of action for the £115,000 in prize money.

Darts man of the moment (indeed the past few years) Michael Van Gerwen is aiming to follow up last Sunday’s World Matchplay victory with his fourth European Tour triumph of the year, having also claimed the glory in Venray in the Netherlands, Munich and Gibraltar. Bet365, who incidentally will be streaming live coverage of the event, are laying evens for him to do exactly that.

World Champion Gary Anderson, himself having a storming 2016, is naturally the second seed and can be backed at 4/1, while fellow Scot Peter Wright is the next in the betting at 9/1, also at bet365. James Wade and Dave Chisnall are also in attendance and both are 25/1, although in the absence of England’s top two players it is hard to look beyond the first three, so we’ll go with Gary Anderson on this one as the only likely threat and challenger to the big Dutchman.

Save for Thursday’s qualifiers, the internet-streamed tournament begins for real on Friday with the first round where 32 qualifiers all face off, before the top 16 seeds enter play on Saturday in the second round, with the tournament concluding on Sunday.

The European Darts Open will be streamed worldwide through www.LIVEPDC.TV and bet365 for all subscribers.

European Open 2016 tournament schedule

All times BST

Friday July 29

First Round, Afternoon Session (12pm-4pm)

  • John Henderson v Jan Dekker
  • Ritchie Edhouse v Harry Ward
  • Wes Newton v Shaun Griffiths
  • Kim Viljanen v Martin Schindler
  • James Richardson v Daniele Petri
  • Robbie Green v Daryl Gurney
  • John Michael v Fabian Herz
  • Jonny Clayton v Andy Hamilton

First Round, Evening Session (6pm-10pm)

  • Mark Frost v Stefan Stoyke
  • Dimitri Van den Bergh v Jeffrey de Graaf
  • Holger Rettig v Steve West
  • Jamie Caven v Christian Kist
  • Andy Jenkins v Devon Petersen
  • Max Hopp v Andy Boulton
  • Cristo Reyes v Kyle Anderson
  • Gerwyn Price v Tony Newell

Saturday July 30

Second Round, Afternoon Session (12pm-4pm)

  • Terry Jenkins v Clayton/Hamilton
  • Stephen Bunting v Frost/Stoyke
  • Robert Thornton v Newton/Griffiths
  • Jelle Klaasen v Edhouse/Ward
  • Benito van de Pas v Green/Gurney
  • Mensur Suljovic v Michael/Herz
  • Ian White v A Jenkins/Petersen
  • Michael Smith v Richardson/Petri

Second Round, Evening Session (6pm-10pm)

  • Simon Whitlock v Price/Newell
  • Kim Huybrechts v Van den Bergh/de Graaf
  • Dave Chisnall v Henderson/Dekker
  • Peter Wright v Rettig/West
  • Gary Anderson v Viljanen/Schindler
  • James Wade v Hopp/Boulton
  • Michael van Gerwen v Caven/Kist
  • Alan Norris v Reyes/Anderson

Prize fund:

  • Winner: £25,000
  • Runner-up: £10,000
  • Semi-final losers: £5,000
  • Quarter-Final losers: £3,500
  • Third round losers: £2,000
  • Second round losers: £1,500
  • First round losers: £1,000

Van Gerwen Bests Taylor In World Matchplay

Michael Van Gerwen made it back-to-back Blackpool wins last weekend when he saw off the challenge of Phil Taylor to win this year’s World Matchplay title, his 12th victory of 2016.

World Matchplay
It was a brutal performance by the Dutchman who closed the game over fifteen-time Blackpool winner Taylor with an 18-10 victory at the Winter Gardens on Sunday evening, hitting two-thirds of his darts at doubles as well as 12 maximums.

Van Gerwen lost to Taylor on the Winter Gardens stage two years ago, but there never looked like there would be a repeat of the defeat even after a maximum helped Taylor take the opening leg. Van Gerwen responded immediately and closed at 70 to level and 77 to break Taylor’s throw in the third leg. Soon after, a brilliant 11-dart finish, which included two 180s, saw the Dutchman move 3-1 ahead.

Taylor struck back in the fifth leg and finished 70 on the bull, only for MVG to respond with a two-dart 93 checkout which was followed by finishes of 65, 110, tops, 63 and 76 over the next six legs to move 11-4 clear of Taylor.

Taylor won two out of the next three, and also claimed legs 11 and 12 to pull things back to 13-8 but a 13-dart finish from the Dutchman was followed by a checkout of 112 as the match swung firmly in the Van Gerwen’s favour. For what is was worth, Taylor rallied once more with a 130 finish and then took out 81 for a 12 darter to stay within touching distance at 15-10, but, with the end in sight, Van Gerwen landed double 16 to complete a brilliant triumph.

The win here means that van Gerwen becomes only the third player in history to retain the prestigious World Matchplay title, a feat shared only by the vanquished Taylor and Rod Harrington back in 1998 and 99.

Van Gerwen said: “It feels amazing to win this title again. I think I played well all through the tournament and I dominated the final – against Phil you always need to step up a bit and I did. To beat Phil is always nice because he’s a legend and I’ve got so much respect for him. He knows that and that makes it even better to win this trophy by beating him.”

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