2025 World Grand Prix Wednesday Preview – JP
2025 World Grand Prix Wednesday Preview
James Punt landed two more winners on Tuesday, his 2025 World Grand Prix Wednesday tips are below.
Intro
The second round, and quarter finals, are played in a best of five set format. It is a longer format which helps the better players, in theory. It does make it harder for the weaker players to pull off a surprise, but that is not to say that the favourites will all win.
The first-round matches yielded a loss of 0.50 points and three of our ante post outright bets failed to get through the lottery. Will these longer format matches be any easier to call? Hopefully.
Cameron Menzies vs. Rob Cross
Rob Cross dodged a bullet in his first-round match when Wessel Nijman missed a match dart. Cross didn’t play very well and if he wants to progress he may well have to improve his performance. All three sets went to a deciding leg and it was hard work.
Menzies played well enough in his 2-0 win over Chris Dobey. Yes, Dobey really struggled to get going but Menzies did his job and lost just two legs. This will be Menzies’ first time in the second round, while Cross has played three and won one.
Menzies has been in decent form and hitting a lot of 180s. You do need to score well to win and it is not all about hitting doubles.
Cross Fav
Cross is the 1.64 favourite with Menzies 2.50. Their H2H record is 3-2 to Cross. They have never met on stage before and Menzies won their only match in 2025.
Cross is the higher ranked player but he hasn’t got a great tournament record and his win rate in 2025 is just 55%. He has struggled to get matches over the line.
This looks close to a coin toss sort of match and as such, Menzies makes enough appeal at the odds. He will have the football fans/flag shaggers giving him the anti-Scottish abuse, but he will be used to it and that sort of thing can work both ways.
2025 World Grand Prix Wednesday Tip: 1 Cameron Menzies to win @ 2.50 with SpreadEx
Stephen Bunting vs. Danny Noppert
Bunting put in the best performance of night one, averaging 97.02, which is in a double in format, is very good. Niko Springer averaged 91.22 which was the fourth best average of the night. Bunting was a deserved winner.
He is also in very good form, winning twelve of his last fourteen matches. Bunting has played six second round matches in the Grand Prix and won just two, but he is a far better competitor now than he ever has been. He is very comfortable with winning.
Danny Noppert beat Jermaine Wattimena 2-1 in the first round. Wattimena won the first set, so it was a good come from behind win. The reason why Noppert lost the first set was because he was struggling to get into the legs by missing a lot of doubles. Once he got that out his system he was back in the game, but he was sailing close to the wind.
Noppert has played four second round matches in the Grand Prix and lost three. His recent form sees seven wins from his last ten matches and he is playing well on the whole. He does gets tight late in tournaments, but this is still just the second round.
H2H Close
Their H2H record is 7-6 to Noppert and he is 2-1 in 2025 so clearly, he is quite happy playing Bunting. They played each other in the revamped, set based, Winmau World Masters back in February and Noppert won that 4-3. Last month he beat Bunting 6-4 at the World Series finals.
Bunting is the 1.44 (in from 1.53 yesterday) favourite and Noppert 3.00. The Bullet deserves to be favourite based on how well he played on Monday night, but he is playing a more experienced player here, and player with a recent win against him, and a sets based win against him on TV earlier this year.
I do not want to oppose Bunting just now, but I give Noppert a better chance than the odds suggest. Perhaps we will get a close match? Perhaps, but over the last five years, of the forty second round matches played, only eleven were over 4.5 sets. I will have small stakes correct score bet.
2025 World Grand Prix Wednesday Tip: 0.5 point Bunting to win 3-1 @ 3.75 with Betfred
Luke Humphries vs. Krzysztof Ratajski
Humphries played OK in his 2-0 win over Nathan Aspinall, but if he is to reach his third Grand Prix final on the trot, he will need to play better. The important thing is just to get through the tricky first round matches. He did that without much sweat and with a great 156 checkout.
Ratajski’s 95.94 average when beating Martin Schindler 2-0 was bettered only by Stephen Bunting on the opening night. It was an impressive performance, especially as Schindler averaged 94.71, the third best performance of the night.
Both players have won seven of their last ten matches but Humphries is the heavier scorer. Ratajski isn’t quite at the elite level, but good enough to take advantage of any underperformance by Humphries.
H2H
Humphries has played three Grand Prix second round as and won two. Ratajski has played three and won one. Their H2H record is surprisingly close at 5-3 to Humphries, but it is Humphries who has won their last five in a row and Ratajski has not beaten Humphries since 2021.
Humphries is the 1.36 favourite, Ratajski 3.50. All three of Humphries second round matches were under 4.5 sets and two of Ratajski’s were under 4.50. Under 4.5 sets is just 1.40 but I will have a small bet on Humphries to win this 3-1. Ratajski is good enough to get something out of the match, especially if he plays like he did on Monday.
2025 World Grand Prix Wednesday Tip: 0.5 point Luke Humphries to win 3-1 @ 3.50 with Betfred
Joe Cullen vs. Gary Anderson
Joe Cullen beat James Wade 2-0 in round one which was a bit of a surprise. He just got into the legs quicker, which put the pressure on Wade and in a very short format, that put all the pressure on The Machine and he was a bit disappointing to be honest. It wasn’t the best match to watch, but a win is a win. Cullen knows that his game is still not really there. He has won two titles in 2025, but not a lot else.
Gary Anderson beat Raymond van Barneveld 2-1 in the first round. He won the first set fairly comfortably, lost the second and just got it over the line 3-2 in the decider. He averaged 90.06 which is OK and might well be enough here.
Cullen has played five second round matches in the Grand Prix and won three, including for the last two years. Gary Anderson has played in eleven and won just four, the last back in 2020. Recent tournament form is on the side of Cullen.
Their H2H record is 10-8 to Anderson but most of that form is very old. They first played in 2010! There were two matches in 2024 and it was 1-1.
Anderson is the 1.33 favourite, with Cullen 3.60. Cullen is an impossible player to get a handle on, unless he is playing badly and is one of his funks. But he can pull off a surprise out of the blue, as he did when winning a recent Players Championship title.
I will have a rare trip on the good ship Cullen and hope he has a good day.
