2021 World Series Darts Preview and Tips

The World Series Finals is always a bit of a strange event. It is the culmination of a global tour of exhibition matches but this year the ‘series’ consisted of just one event, the Nordic Darts Masters in Denmark. The 2021 World Series Darts field of 24 players consists of those players who reached the quarter finals of the Nordic Darts Masters. They have been made the eight seeded players, and enter at the second-round stage.

The remaining 16 players make up the first-round matches. The sixteen are made up of the four top ranked players on the OOM who have not already qualified, four invited international players, four home nation invitees and four players who came through a pro tour card holder qualifier. This event is non-ranking but there is a £300000 prize fund with the winner picking up £70000. Enough to get Gary Anderson on a plane.

2021 World Series Darts: Players event form and odds

1. Michael van Gerwen W/W/W/QF/W/2  4.33

Michael’s only title of 2021 came at the Nordic Darts Masters when he beat Fallon Sherrock in the final, with some difficulty it should be said. His recent form is excellent, he averages over 100 in the last three months, which makes it all the more mysterious that he has won just the one title. It all comes down to confidence.

He lacks the confidence to win. He has the game; he is producing the goods, but he cannot convert it into titles. MVG is not alone in that but what is surprising is that his win in Denmark, which reduced him to tears, has not resulted in more titles. The monkey is still firmly on his back. It doesn’t seem to matter how well he plays; he is still losing too many matches.

2. Fallon Sherrock Debut  201.00

Here we have a player who does not have a tour card as the second seed in a televised tournament. Sherrock was both lucky and brilliant in the Nordic Darts Masters. Lucky that Gerwyn Price withdrew from his second-round tie against Fallon, and brilliant by coming back from 1-7 down to beat Dimitri van den Bergh 11-10 in the quarter final.

She then had a big lead against MVG in the final before she realised what she might actually do, and her game tailed off just as MVG’s picked up. Sherrock’s preparation could hardly have gone better. She played in the PDC Women’s Series at the weekend and won 26 of her 28 matches. She picked up three titles and lost only to Lisa Ashton. Across the season’s 12 Women’s Series tournament, she had the highest average with 85.5, won 77% of her legs played, and won six titles.

Her confidence will be sky high, but she will have to raise her game when facing the winner of the Ratajski vs. Clemens first round match. That is not to say she won’t. Sherrock seems to enjoy playing on the big stage and always is the crowd favourite.

3. Dimitri van den Bergh 1/-/QF/1/-/1  11.00

Dimitri bounced back well from his humiliation against Sherrock in Denmark. He won the first of last week’s Super Series events PC24, averaging 103. 2 across his seven matches. He then blotted his copy book by winning just one more match and averaged 91.2 in those four matches.

Dimitri is generally playing well, is one of the heaviest scorers on the tour but his consistency is just a little bit of a worry. 16% of his last 50 matches were sub 90 averages. He would only need to win four matches to win this tournament which helps, and he must be on the shortlist.

4. Jonny Clayton 1/-/QF/-/  10.00

When it comes to winning non-ranking events, The Ferret is your man. The World Cup, The Masters and the Premier League have gone his way in the last two years. His victory at the World Grand Prix was his first ranking major and his official OOM ranking of 8 is starting to reflect where his true standing is. Clayton did not participate in last week’s Super Series.

After picking up £110000 for winning the Grand Prix, he went back to work as a plasterer for a couple of weeks. Plastering must pay well. He only lost five sets across his five matches at the Grand Prix, and he has won eight of his last ten. He is an elite player, in good form and remains underrated.

5. Gerwyn Price 2/QF/SF/2/W  4.50

The World Champion was given a bit of a lesson by Clayton in the Grand Prix final, losing 1-5, but he remains one of, if not the best player in the world. His odds however are now just a bit on the short side. Since winning the World Championship in January, Price has not won a televised title. He has won two euro tour titles and two players championship titles but in the televised events he has lost two quarter finals, three semi-finals and a final.

There are now just too many players who can win these big events for any favourite to be going off at less than 6.00 or 5.00. Price also skipped the recent Super Series, preferring to rest up before a busy spell of big tournaments. There is also that problem with his elbow which could flare up at any minute.

6. Peter Wright RU/RU/QF/2/2/SF  7.00

It is fair to say that Wright’s stock is falling right now. His form has dropped just when it needs to be at its best. He has lost four of his last ten matches, he has gone out of the last two majors at the first-round stage and his scoring has dropped. He averaged 93.3 at last week’s Super Series compared to his 12 month average of 98.4.

His tinkering with his darts has got to the ridiculous stage, changing his darts during a leg and changing not just to a bigger flight or a slightly heavier dart, but going from a slim dart to a torpedo style, and then back again. His confidence can’t be good, and he seems to be there for the taking.

7. Gary Anderson 2/2/RU/2/2/WD  26.00

The Flying Scotsman’s tournament record suggests this event doesn’t float Gary’s boat. He has played in five of these events and won three matches, and that was on home turf. He has lost six of his last ten matches and is hard to fancy.

8. Madars Razma Debut  126.00

Madars has won seven of his last ten matches and reached the semi-final of PC26 last week. That will have boosted his confidence and he is having a decent season. However, his 12 month average of 89.9 isn’t that of a potential tournament winner. He can ruin somebody else’s chances, but it is hard to see him having a good run here.

Non-Seeded Players

James Wade QF/2/SF/W/W/SF  29.00

Wade is not in good form having lost six of his last ten matches. Since winning the UK Open in February he hasn’t done a lot in the big events and when he won this in 2018, he was bang in form on the back of becoming a first-time dad. Another who is hard to fancy.

Jose de Sousa Debut  23.00

Another player making his tournament debut. The Special One is showing signs of a return to form but he still isn’t at his best. He has won seven of his last ten matches and he hit some very big averages in last week’s Super Series, but there were some duff performances as well.

De Sousa had three 106+ averages but three sub 90 as well. He won a couple of matches at the recent European Championship finals, and he could do something similar, but he has a tough first round tie against Danny Noppert and the winner of that plays Van den Bergh.

Michael Smith 1/1/1/RU/1/QF  23.00

Smith comes into this on the back of winning PC27 last Friday and he played well all week and deserved his win. Will that timely confidence boost be enough to allow him to produce his best goods on the TV stage and maybe, do the deed and win a televised title? That takes a leap of faith. He has lost five televised semi-finals and six finals.

His followers will have burnt through a lot of money over the years and while odds of 23.00 underestimate his form and ability, it is his nerve under pressure which makes it an unattractive bet. He has a good enough looking draw, so a decent run is not out of the question.

Dave Chisnall 2/SF/-/QF/SF/1  26.00

I could copy and paste most of the paragraph above for Chizzy. Getting it over the line in the TV events has proven to be beyond him. Having said that, he has reached at least the quarter final of all the TV events this year, except the World Matchplay. He is doing what he has always done, played well in the big event, winning plenty of money but never the title.

He has got a good draw and there is a clear path to the quarters, but that is when things start going tits up. Chizzy had a reasonable Super Series last week, reaching a semi-final but there was no nappy factor win after the recent birth of his son.

Nathan Aspinall 1/QF  29.00

The Asp gave us a run for our money at the European Championship, reaching the semi-final and very nearly pulling off one of the great comebacks before losing 10-11 in the semi-final to MVG. He has played well in most of this year’s TV events with two semi-finals and two more quarter finals. He is in great form, winning eight of his last ten, his scoring is back where it should be.

Aspinall hit 113 against Keegan Brown in PC24 last week and lost! While his scoring was generally very good last week, there were a few lapses, but he is hitting a lot of 180’s right now and he could have another good run this weekend. It is taking very good performances to beat him, and he is a real contender again.

Krzysztof Ratajski QF/2  17.00

The Polish Eagle has reached three quarter finals and a semi-final in four of this years televised events. He won eight of his twelve matches in last week’s Super Series and he played very consistently. He has a decent draw, and it would be a bit of a surprise for him not to make the quarters at least.

Gabriel Clemens 1/-  51.00

Clemens is winning plenty of matches without playing that well. He won eleven from fifteen in last week’s Super Series and was runner up to Callan Rydz in PC25. He had five sub 90 averages across his 15 matches and his inconsistency means his odds look about right. Clemens faces Ratajski in the first round and has a 0-7 H2H record against the Pole.

John Henderson Debut  151.00

Hendo will be dining out on his World Cup win for some time. It got him an invite to this event, but the fact is that he has won just 42% of his matches in 2021, and just three of his last ten.

Dirk van Duijvenbode Debut  71.00

There were encouraging signs of a return to form for the Aubergenius at last week’s Super Series. He reached the semi-final of PC25 and in PC26 he had a ton plus average in all five of his matches, losing the quarter final 4-6 to Nathan Aspinall. He won 14 of his 18 matches and looked very close to his best and a lot better than he has been recently.

The crowd are going to right behind him, but he will meet Gerwyn Price in the second round if he beats fellow Dutchman Jeffrey de Zwann in the first round. He has a poor record against Price, losing 11 and winning just 1. Even so, he is playing better than his odds suggest but his draw is very tough.

Danny Noppert RU/-  41.00

After his great run to the semi-final of the World Grand Prix and quarter final of the European Championship, Noppert had a poor Super Series last week, winning just three matches. Has the edge gone off his game? Maybe he was just a bit mentally tired after lots of big matches.

Noppert had his best ever result in the PDC when he was runner up to MVG in this event in 2019. Another home crowd favourite, he faces De Sousa in the first round. He is 1-4 against the Portuguese star. Noppert must be considered despite being a bit off last week.

Vincent van der Voort Debut  151.00

Big Vinny won ten of his fourteen matches in last week’s Super Series. He didn’t take any big scalps but there were three ton plus averages, and it was a solid performance. He isn’t going to win anything and facing Aspinall in the first round for the chance to play Clayton suggests he is up against it here.

Jeffery de Zwaan Debut 226.00

What has happened to The Swan? The next big thing a couple of years ago to the rank outsider in a glorified exhibition. He has had shoulder problems which required surgery and it seems that has taken a toll on his very powerful throwing action. He only won three matches last week and he has only played 42 matches in 2021. Six defeats in his last ten tell you where his game is.

Niels Zonneveld Debut  201.00

Zonneveld played well to come through the pro tour qualifying tournament, averaging 107 when beating Mickey Mansell and ending Northern Ireland’s chance of having representation by beating Brendan Dolan to win one of the four entries. His form in Barnsley last week wasn’t so great, winning just two matches.

His 12-month average is just under 90 but on occasions he can score very well. Since winning his tour card in January he has picked up wins against Rob Cross, Dave Chisnall, Jose de Sousa, and Ryan Searle. He is a potentially dangerous opponent. Niels has drawn Dave Chisnall in the first round and Gary Anderson in the second if he can repeat his victory over Chizzy. Anything more than that would be a surprise.

Merv King Debut  71.00

The King comes here in decent form, winning seven of his last ten matches but his scoring last week wasn’t good. He played very well on Monday to come through the qualifying tournament, averaging 99.75. However, the rest of the week saw him win seven of his eleven matches but also have seven sub 90 averages. King faces James Wade in the first round and he has beaten Wade in eight of their last ten matches, so King may make some progress but win a televised title? It is unlikely to start happening now.

Maik Kuivenhoven Debut  201.00

Still improving at 33 years of age, Dutchman Kuivenhoven is perfectly capable of taking down a big name. His form is OK, winning six of his ten matches last week. In his last 50 matches he has wins against Gerwyn Price, Peter Wright, Nathan Aspinall, Daryl Gurney and Michael Smith amongst others, so him taking out John Henderson in the first round seems likely.

His reward would be a second round clash with Michael van Gerwen, with whom he has a 2-0 H2H record. Interesting. I can’t see Kuivenhoven going all the way, he has never won a title on the pro tour, but he could be a disruptor.

Kim Huybrechts 2/  81.00

Huybrechts last played in this event back in 2016 and averaged over a ton in both his matches. However, that was then, and this is now. He has slipped down the rankings, but his more recent form has shown that his A-game is still very good.

Kim had two 104+ averages in the qualifying tournament and the next day, reached the semi-final of PC24, losing to Van den Bergh despite a 102 average. He reached the quarter of PC27 on Friday, beating MVG 6-2 in the third round. Huybrechts could do some damage, but he faces Michael Smith in round one, and it was Smith who ended Huybrechts run on Friday.

2021 World Series Darts: The Quarters

First Quarter

The first quarter of the draw is potentially very interesting. MVG is the top seed, but it looks like he could have a tricky second round match should Kuivenhoven beat John Henderson. Van Gerwen is playing as well as anyone, but his confidence remains fragile and facing a player who has a 100% record against him is not what he needs, especially in a best of 11 leg format.

The bottom half the quarter has Madars Razma as the seeded player and he will face Wade or King. Any one of those three could make the quarter final and they may not end up facing MVG, but they probably will. Van Gerwen must be expected to make the semi-final, but he looks poor value to me.

2021 World Series Darts: Second Quarter

The two seeds here are Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton so the chances of an all Welsh quarter would seem high. However, this quarter also sees two in-form unseeded players in Nathan Aspinall and Dirk van Duijvenbode. Aspinall vs. Clayton would be a coin toss at the moment. Both are potential tournament winners but one of them will not progress.

Dirk van Duijvenbode finally beat Gerwyn Price back in June, at the twelfth attempt. Given The Aubergenius’ return to form last week, Price is not a shoe in for a quarter final. This is a fiendishly difficult quarter to predict.

2021 World Series Darts: Third Quarter

This quarter looks a little less fiendish. The two seeds are Fallon Sherrock and Gary Anderson. Sherrock has had the knack of pulling off surprises when she gets the chance to play on the big TV stages. First, it was beating Ted Evetts and Mensur Suljovic at the World Championship back in 2019, before losing to Chris Dobey. She got a draw against a pre-covid Glen Durrant in the Premier League and took Jeff Smith to a deciding leg in this event last year. 

Most recently she thrashed a local qualifier, beat Dimitri van den Bergh and gave MVG a tough game in the Nordic Darts Masters final. She lost heavily in the UK Open to Kyle McKinstry, so it has not always been good results in the big events. However, the fact remains that in her TV matches, her average has only once been more than 92, a 96.2 vs. MVG last month. She will be the outsider against either Ratajski or Clemens.

Eagle Could Fly

Krzysztof Ratajski has a fantastic record against Clemens, and he looks more likely to take on Sherrock in round two. Over the last three months, Ratajski is averaging 96.8. In the Women’s Series, Sherrock averaged 85.5, very much in line with her seasonal average. It is Sherrock who will have to up her game significantly. She can do that; she can hit ton plus averages but just not as often as Ratajski. The Polish Eagle will have the crowd against him, but he has a great opportunity to progress to his fifth televised quarter final of the season.

Gary Anderson will face Dave Chisnall or Niels Zonneveld and given Anderson’s poor record in this event, either could progress. I would take Ratajski to beat any of those three in the quarter final.

2021 World Series Darts: Fourth Quarter

Dimitri van den Bergh and Peter Wright are the two seeds here. Wright is not in good form and while he can’t be ruled out, he is hard to fancy. Van den Bergh’s form is a little confusing and inconsistent. He did win a players championship title last week, but his form then tailed off. However, seven of his last eleven matches have seen ton plus averages, so it is hard to say he is playing poorly.

Of the unseeded players, we have Jose De Sousa, Danny Noppert, Michael Smith, and Kim Huybrechts. Michael Smith won a players championship title last Friday, Noppert has been in great form on the stage recently, Huybrechts recent form has been impressive, and De Sousa is showing some signs of a return to form.

Another hard quarter to predict but a Smith vs. Van den Bergh quarter final looks very possible. That is a bit of a toss-up, but you have to think that Van den Bergh would have more chance of actually going on to win the 2021 World Series Darts should he prevail.

2021 World Series Darts: Ante Post Selections

1 point Nathan Aspinall to win the 2021 World Series Darts Finals @ 29.00 generally available

Krzysztof Ratajski to win the 2021 World Series Darts Finals 1 point @ 17.00 generally available

1 point Dimitri van den Bergh to win the World Series Finals Darts @ 11.00 generally available

-JamesPunt