2025 World Grand Prix Thursday Preview – JP
2025 World Grand Prix Thursday Preview
James Punt landed two more winners on Wednesday, his 2025 World Grand Prix Thursday tips are below.
Dirk van Duijvenbode vs. Daryl Gurney
Dirk was able to take advantage of MVG’s poor doubling to win their first-round clash 2-0. It was no more than an OK performance by Dirk and the win was rather gift wrapped by Van Gerwen.
Superchin also had an opponent who didn’t turn up, but of course Ross Smith had his reasons to be very flat. Gurney played OK, had a plan, hit plenty of doubles, but he didn’t need to get out of second gear and he lost just a single leg.
We didn’t really learn much about these two players form in their first-round matches. Both are former finalists, Gurney a former winner, but he has also played five second round matches and won three, the last win was back in 2018. Dirk has lost in the first round for his last three appearances. Again, nothing of any great significance there.
Their H2H record is 8-4 to Gurney and he has won four of their last five, including their only match in 2025, a 6-2 in late August.
Neither player can be considered to be playing with any great consistency, which does not make for a great betting match. Dirk is the 1.80 favourite, Gurney 2.10. I can’t argue with those odds. Maybe there is a bit of value about Daryl Gurney but just not quite enough. No bet.
2025 World Grand Prix Thursday Tip: No Bet
Gerwyn Price vs. Josh Rock
Price lost the first set against Ryan Searle 0-3, rode his luck a little to win the second set and was pretty good in the final set to win 3-1. It was a decent match, nothing special, but the players were closely matched.
Josh Rock was there for the taking, but sadly, our long shot bet to win the quarter, Ryan Joyce, was disappointing and couldn’t take advantage. Rock needed a 108 checkout to win the match in the deciding leg of the deciding set. It was real cat kicking stuff.
Both players were OK, but no more than that. Both could quite easily have lost and both will need to up their game if they want to reach the next round.
H2H Close
Both players have won seven of their last ten matches and their H2H record is 5-4 to Price. In 2025 it is 2-2, on TV 1-1. Sometimes two players just bounce off each other, play at the same pace and have a battle. I think these are just that.
In their four matches in 2025, they have hit 45 maximums at a rate of 0.71 per leg. Both players are ranked top 10 for 180s per leg and we might get a lot of them in this match. Especially if they have another close game.
2025 World Grand Prix Thursday Tip: 1 point over 9.5 180s @ 2.05 with Unibet
Over 4.5 sets at 2.75 is tempting but for the fact that so few of the last eighty second round matches have ended over 4.5 sets (31.25%).
Jonny Clayton vs. Luke Woodhouse
The Ferret overcame his dreadful record vs. Andrew Gilding with a first round 2-0 win. He did drop 3 legs, but it was a good enough performance to win without any great drama. Clayton has won two of his four second round matches in the Grand Prix. His recent form sees seven wins from his last ten matches and he has been playing pretty well on the whole.
Luke Woodhouse beat Damon Heta 2-1 (what else?). He only averaged 80 and even in this format, that is not good. Heta was the better player, but the mental scarring from his previous four 1-2 losses overwhelmed him in the end. Woodhouse will be unlikely to get away with the same kind of performance here.
Not Playing Well
Woody has won six of his last ten matches but has not been playing particularly well. He is an improved player in the last year or two and deserves his place in the top 32, but he is not in the same class as Clayton.
Clayton is the 1.40 favourite Woodhouse 3.10. Their H2H record is 3-0 to Clayton and he won their only match in 2025, 6-2 back in July.
Clayton has played four second round matches in the Grand Prix. He lost two 2-3 and won his others 3-1. I would suggest that the latter is more likely tonight.
2025 World Grand Prix Thursday Tip: 0.5 point Clayton to win 3-1 @ 3.75 with Betfred
Luke Littler vs. Mike de Decker
Littler managed to beat Gian van Veen 2-0 in the first round, despite Van Veen hitting the highest ever average in the competition with a 106.47 average. In a double in format, that is insane. Littler averaged 105.58 which is equally insane. You may never see another match like it in this format. Van Veen only won two legs and played like a god. Pray for De Decker.
Mike De Decker got his title defence off to a winning start by beating Peter Wright 2-1. To lose a set to Peter Wright was poor and to lose five legs, terrible. De Decker averaged a respectable 91.41. To be fair to Wright, he was good on the doubles when he got a chance but he only averaged 80.22. De Decker could be in for a drubbing if Littler turns up with his A game again.
Littler At Best
Littler knew he was up against in with Van Veen and he was at his very best. He may be a bit less fired up against De Decker. He has played him six times and won all six.
De Decker should have beaten Littler in last year’s Grand Slam. He had him on the ropes and just needed to finish him off, but Littler came back from the near dead and won 10-9. Since then, it has been mostly one way traffic.
Even with home advantage, De Decker lost 5-8 in the final of the Belgian Darts Open. That was followed by an 8-4 win for Littler in a World Series final and finally a 6-2 win in a World Series semi-final.
The Nuke Is Fav
Littler is the 1.22 favourite, De Decker 4.75. There is very little value to be found in matches like this, unless you fancy De Decker to be able to lay a finger on Littler. Van Veen threw the kitchen sink at Littler and got stuffed.
Littler is 2.63 to win 3-0. In the last ten years, twenty nine of the eighty second round matches have ended 3-0, and in the last four years it has been just six from thirty-two. It has become a harder thing to do.
Littler winning 3-1 is 3.75, but do we think De Decker can win a set? He is the defending champion, so he knows the ropes, and I just can’t see Littler bringing the same fire as he did against Van Veen, who he knew was a real threat.
