2023 Friday Belgian Darts Open Preview – JP
2023 Friday Belgian Darts Open Preview
Our man James Punt has already posted an outright betting preview for this tournament. Check it out here. Check out his 2023 Friday Belgian Darts Open preview and tips below.
Callan Rydz vs. Matt Campbell
Rydz is a very talented player and one to follow when he is on a hot streak. He started the season with back-to-back quarter finals in the PC2 & 3, but it has been a very ordinary year since. He has won five of his last ten matches but we haven’t seen any of his big eye catching averages for a couple of months. Rydz has played in two Euro Tour events in 2023 and won one match, a 6-3 win over Matt Campbell.
Campbell is still improving, gaining experience, but he hasn’t broken through just yet. He has won five of his last ten matches, usually losing to the top flight players. He has played in three Euro Tours in 2023 and won two first round matches, beating Keegan Brown 6-4 and Ian White 6-5.
Rydz is the 1.80 favourite and Campbell 2.10. It is hard to pick a winner. That recent win in ET4 for Rydz is enough to make him favourite. My initial thought was that a close match was on the cards, Campbell tends to get involved in long matches, but Rydz doesn’t. Six of Campbells last ten have gone over 9 legs, only one of Rydz’ matches has. Sadly, it’s a no bet.
2023 Friday Belgian Darts Open Tip: No Bet
Daryl Gurney vs. Dylan Slevin
These two players are both in the MDA management stable and wile Slevin only won his card in January, he has already faced Superchin three times and won two of them. Slevin is making his third appearance on the Euro Tour and he has won just the one match, a 6-0 win over the unknown Marcel Hausotter.
Gurney is the senior partner here, he is in decent form, winning seven of his last ten matches, but he has lost half of his six first round matches in Europe this year.
Superchin is the 1.53 favourite, Slevin 2.63. You can see why Gurney is the short price favourite, but his first round record on the Euro Tour and their H2H record is enough to steer me away from backing the favourite, but Slevin doesn’t make enough appeal at 2.63. No bet.
2023 Friday Belgian Darts Open Tip: No Bet
Martijn Kleermaker vs. Ross Smith
Smudger is the 1.33 favourite, Kleermaker the 3.50 outsider. The giant Dutchman can nearly stick the darts into the bord such is his reach, which begs the question, is the fact that the Dutch are so good at darts and the tallest nationality in the world a coincidence? Somebody needs to do the research.
Kleermaker is one of those dangerous opponents who can turn it on at times. He has shown decent form of late, reaching the quarter final of PC10 three weeks ago. He has won seven of his last ten matches, but his scoring hasn’t been anything special. The Dutchman has played Smith twice and lost both. Their only match in 2023 saw a 6-1 win for Smith, the other was a 6-3 win for Smith in 2020.
Improving
Smith is an improving player, a Major Champion and a huge 180 hitter. He has won five of his last ten matches and had eight 97+ averages. The only surprise is that he has lost five.
Smith has won all four of his first round matches in Europe this year with scores of 6-0, 6-3, 6-1 and 6-0. He doesn’t mess about. The 6-3 was the only time he didn’t average over 100. I’ll take Smudger to cover the handicap.
2023 Friday Belgian Darts Open Tip: 1 point Ross Smith to win -2.5 legs @ 2.06 Unibet
2023 Friday Belgian Darts Open Tip: 0.5 point Ross Smith to win 6-1 @ 9.50 with Unibet
Gary Anderson vs. Krzysztof Ratajski
The match of the night is put on fairly early in the evening. Is Gary wanting to get to bed early?
It is a tough draw for both players. Anderson was in tremendous form in late March, early April, winning fifteen consecutive matches and picking up the Players Championship 8 title. Who did he beat in the final? Ratajski.
Anderson’s most recent form sees four consecutive defeats but he played well enough in three of them. The only stinker was in last week’s Euro Tour first round when he could only average 87.6 in a 2-6 loss to Roman Benecky. It is clear that Anderson doesn’t travel well. He enjoyed globetrotting on the World Series, but they were just exhibitions, a chance to get a paid holiday and bit of fishing in.
PC Winners
Ratajski, like Anderson, has won a Players Championship title this year. He won PC9, having been runner up to Anderson in PC8. He was in top form at that point, but he has lost five of his nine matches since. He has won all three of his Euro Tour first round matches, but Anderson is a very different proposition to who he has faced so far.
Their H2H record is surprisingly sparse as they have met just twice and it is one win each.
This is very hard to call and the market concurs. Anderson is the 1.73 favourite, Ratajski 2.10. The problem is that both players have lost that red hot form of a few weeks ago, and then there is the question of Anderson in Europe.
Over 9.5 legs makes some appeal at 1.91 but there has to be a better betting proposition elsewhere tonight. No bet.
2023 Friday Belgian Darts Open Tip: No Bet
James Wade vs. Raymond van Barneveld
Another heavyweight clash put on early before the local talent is brought out.
Wade has won seven of his last ten matches and won both his first round matches in Europe this season, one of which was 6-3 win over Raymond van Barneveld in ET1.
Barney has won six of his last ten matches but lost his opening match in the Netherlands last weekend. That was a 3-6 loss to Van den Bergh and his form is very inconsistent. In his last ten matches he has had averages of 86.9 all the way up to 113.5. Four sub 90 averages is a concern and there are more low scoring matches than high scoring ones.
Their H2H record could not be closer. 23-23 with no less than four draws. In those fifty matches, only eleven were in best of 11 leg format. Of those eleven, six required less than ten legs. The last four of those all ended 6-3 and you have to go back to 2016 for the last time a best of 11 leg match went over nine legs, and six of their last seven have been unders.
2023 Friday Belgian Darts Open Tip: 1 point under 9.5 legs @ 1.90 with Unibet
Kim Huybrechts vs. Ricky Evans
Rapid Ricky was a bit disappointed to get drawn against a home player, on a Friday night with a full house (and Belgian lager is very strong). He might get a bit of stick.
Evans has won seven of his last ten matches but like stablemate Daryl Gurney, he seems to save his best for Euro Tour qualifiers. He has played in two events in 2023 and lost both his first round matches and he didn’t play well in either it must be said.
Last time out he got drawn against Mensur Suljovic in the Austrian Darts Open, so at least he knows what to expect home crowd wise. He has a 5-3 H2H record with Huybrechts and of their six best of 11 leg matches, only one required more than nine legs and only two, more than eight.
Home Advantage
Huybrechts will have the crowd right behind him, but that can bring its own pressure. He is not in good form, losing six of his last ten matches and seven saw averages of under 91. He has played three Euro Tour matches in 2023 and lost all three. All three were close, two 6-4 and a 6-5.
Ricky is playing better than Huybrechts for the most part recently. Neither will be full of confidence and I can see one of them collapsing quite easily. Which one? I don’t know, but I’ll take a chance on another short match.
2023 Friday Belgian Darts Open Tip: 1 point under 9.5 legs @ 1.88 with Unibet
Chris Dobey vs. Dalibor Smolik
Dobey has had to make another dash to Europe after his Premier League matches in Manchester last night. He had a 6-2 win over Dimitri van den Bergh, before losing to Jonny Clayton. Dobey has won just four of his last ten matches but he is playing a lot better than that sounds. His last Euro Tour event saw him drawn against a Czech qualifier Viteslav Sedlak and he won that 6-3 with a 100.9 average.
Smolik is another Czech player who came through the East European qualifier to earn his place in his first Euro Tour event. That is the extent of my knowledge about him.
Dobey is the 1.06 favourite and Smolik 13.00. Dobey to win 6-0, 6-1 and 6-2 are score lines which are getting backed for obvious reasons. Dobey is 1.60 giving up a -3.5 leg handicap but I’ll throw some loose change on a 6-1 win. Dobey has had three 6-1 win from his last eight Euro Tour first rounds.
2023 Friday Belgian Darts Open Tip: 0.5 point Dobey to win 6-1 @ 3.75 with Betfred, Unibet, Skybet, BET365
Dimitri van den Bergh vs. Ian White
Van den Bergh has lost five of his last ten matches and I have no idea how he will play tonight. His form is all over the place. He had two 105 averages in the Netherlands last weekend, but still lost one of those games.
Dimitri started well in last night’s PL match with Chris Dobey but folded very quickly to lose 6-2. He has struggled on the Euro Tour so far, playing eight matches and winning just three, and he has not progressed beyond the second round.
ET Struggles
Ian White is playing better in 2023 but he too has struggled on the Euro Tour. He has played seven and won just two. He is playing well with seven 97+ averages in his last ten matches, of which he has won six. His confidence remains fragile and he is a player who has been known to get wound up by a hostile crowd, and that rarely goes well.
Their H2H record is 6-3 to Dimitri and he has won their last five, three of them 6-2 and one was this season. Their last five best of eleven leg matches have required less than nine legs.
