2025 Flanders Darts Trophy R2 Preview

Just two winners for James Punt this afternoon but we are still up overall and we go again. His 2025 Flanders Darts Trophy R2 tips are below.

James Wade vs. Kim Huybrechts

Wade has won six of his last ten matches and was runner up in the Matchplay last month before the summer break. Before that he was a semi-finalist in the Baltic Sea Darts Open, his second Euro Tour semi-final of the season. He knocked the rust off at the Players Championships earlier this week but only won a couple of matches.

Kim Huybrechts ended the run of failure for the local qualifiers in Belgium by beating Lukas Wenig 6-5. It was a good match, if not the highest quality, but he has lost none of his competitive nature. Kim has won nine of his last ten matches, but five of those were in the local qualifier and against part timers.

Yet To Win In 2nd Round

He averaged 92 in last night’s match, pretty much his seasonal average. Huybrechts is yet to win a second round match on the Euro Tour this season (he has only played in four events), but last year he only played in one Euro Tour event and went all the way to the final of the Czech Darts Open, so he can cause surprises.

Their H2H record is 21-7 to Wade, but much of that is ancient history. They have not met since 2022 and that was a 6-1 win for Wade on the Euro Tour.

Wade is the better player in every department these days and he has the experience to not be bothered by a crowd on the side of his opponent. He is the 1.40 favourite, Huybrechts 3.10. Wade is 1.67 with a -1.5 leg handicap and the value is marginal. No bet.

2025 Flanders Darts Trophy R2 Tip: No Bet

Ryan Searle vs. Raymond van Barneveld

Ryan Searle is not running hot, winning just five of his last ten matches. He is playing with no consistency at all and in his last ten he has hit everything from a 106 to a 77. That makes him one to avoid betting wise.

RVB averaged 90 in a 6-3 win over Xanti van den Bergh and he has won just four of his last ten matches.

Searle has an impressive 8-2 H2H record with Barney. Six have been over 9.5 legs, but with two players in hopeless form, it is best to just leave it alone.

2025 Flanders Darts Trophy R2 Tip: No bet

Ross Smith vs. Daryl Gurney

Superchin was magnificent in his 6-3 win over Callan Rydz. It was a match of the highest quality with Rydz averaging 106.57 and Gurney 104.29. It was exhibition stuff from Gurney at times and to be fair to Rydz, he knew that he had just been beaten by a player pulling out all the stops.

The big question now, is can Gurney get close to another good performance. In recent matches Gurney followed up a 110 average with a 91, a 102 average with an 89. It is far from certain that he will turn up tonight and play to a high level.

Ross Smith has won seven of his last ten matches and reached a semi-final on Monday. He is playing with a good deal of consistency, but he does tend to get tight at the business end of events. Early on in tournaments he is pretty strong and he has won eight of his nine opening matches on the 2025 Euro Tour.

Their H2H record is 5-5 but they have not met for over a year.

Smith is the 1.67 favourite and being backed. Gurney is the 2.30 outsider.

Their last three matches on stage have produced thirty 180s in thirty-seven legs. That is 0.81 per leg.

2025 Flanders Darts Trophy R2 Tip: 1 point over 5.5 180s @ 1.83 generally available

Stephen Bunting vs. Joe Cullen

Cullen was talking up his chances after beating Ian White 6-1. It was a facile win with White averaging just 81. Bunting will be more likely to be hitting Cullen with a 101. Cullen has won six of his last four matches and he has played some good stuff and some not so good stuff. His best game might give Bunting something to think about, but Bunting’s biggest problem may be fatigue.

Stephen Bunting is in excellent form, winning thirteen of his last fourteen matches and he has hit seven ton plus averages in his last ten. The other worry, outside of tiredness, is that Bunting has lost four of his second round matches on the Euro Tour in 2025. He has only won one of his last five.

H2H Close

Their H2H record is 6-5 to Bunting and on the Euro Tour 2-2. They have not played since April last year. They usually have close matches with seven of their nine best of eleven leg matches being over 9.5 legs.

Right now, Bunting is the second best player in the world and Cullen may never have faced a better version of Bunting, so long as the usual Bunting turns up and not the Euro Tour Bunting. Some of his opening matches have just been bizarre. He averaged 104.54 in a 4-6 loss to Matt Campbell and averaged 101.14 in a 2-6 loss to Cameron Menzies.

Bunting is the 1.25 favourite, Cullen 4.00. We are on Bunting outright and that is enough interest for me. No bet.

2025 Flanders Darts Trophy R2 Tip: No bet

Luke Littler vs. Dylan Slevin

There was a brief doubt as to whether Littler would turn up as he had to have some emergency dental treatment on Thursday night, but he has made the trip and I assume is well enough to play. He doesn’t need to be here so wouldn’t have bothered if he was in pain.

Slevin beat a local qualifier 6-3 in round one, but an 86.32 average will not be enough to bother Littler.

Littler is the 1.10 favourite with Slevin 9.00.

Their H2H record is 4-2 to Littler and it was Slevin who won their only match this year, a 6-3 win in a Players Championship match in April. Their only other match at senior level was a Euro Tour match in 2024, and Littler won that 6-0. That is the difference between Littler on a stage, and Littler on the floor.

2025 Flanders Darts Trophy R2 Tip: 1 point Luke Littler to win -3.5 legs @ 1.91 with Betfred

Michael van Gerwen vs. Gian van Veen

Van Veen cantered to a 6-2 win over Adam Gawlas in round one. He didn’t have to get out of first gear, but this will be tougher. MVG is a bit of a bogeyman for Gian on the Euro Tour, having beaten him in two finals. Overall, their H2H record is 5-2 to MVG and on the Euro Tour 3-0. Van Veen did beat MVG in the 2023 European Championships, but never in one of the qualifying events.

Van Veen has won seven of his last ten matches, but I wouldn’t say he is in top form scoring wise. He has lost seven of his second-round matches on the Euro Tour in 2025.

MVG has played four Euro Tour events in 2025, and won one of them and had a semi-final, but lost two second round matches. His recent form is sparse, but he has won six of his last ten matches and scored well enough.

Van Veen is the 1.80 favourite with MVG 2.10. MVG is being backed, and I am not surprised.

2025 Flanders Darts Trophy R2 Tip: 1 point MVG to win @ 2.10 with Unibet

Martin Schindler vs. Mike de Decker

The home fans saw three Belgians winning last night but De Decker only managed a paltry 82.25 in a 6-3 win over Martin Lukeman in a poor game of darts. De Decker has won six of his last ten matches but hit four sub 90 averages and three ton plus. You don’t know what to expect. He has lost five of his seven second round matches on the Euro Tour in 2025.

Schindler showed some good form earlier in the week, reaching the semi-final of PC25 and he averaged 101.64 across his six matches. Schindler has only lost one second round Euro Tour match from nine in 2025.

Their H2H record is 4-4 but on the Euro Tour? 3-0 to De Decker. Schindler is the 1.73 favourite, De Decker 2.10.

It is a tricky one. I think Schindler should win, but home advantage and that Euro Tour H2H record is enough to say, no bet.

2025 Flanders Darts Trophy R2 Tip: No bet

Jonny Clayton vs. Mario Vandenbogaerde

Super Mario was a nice winner for us last night, beating Michael Smith 6-5. He averaged 95.72 but made hard work of it as Smith was only averaging 87.62. The Belgian has played five Euro Tour second round matches and never won one.

Clayton is in good form, runner up on Tuesday. He is scoring heavily, and I expect him to give Mario a bit of a doing. He is 3-0 against the Belgian and won their only match in 2025 6-2 last month. Mario averaged 100 in that match, The Ferret 108!

Clayton is the 1.29 favourite, but I will have a small play on another 6-2.

2025 Flanders Darts Trophy R2 Tip: 0.5 point Jonny Clayton to win 6-2 @ 5.50 generally available

That is all from me for this week as the Dutch GP gets my full attention tomorrow.

-JamesPunt