2025 World Masters Friday Preview

It is fair to say that Thursday didn’t go to plan for James Punt. Both our match bets lost and Rob Cross was sent packing by Willie O’Connor. It is still early days and James is aiming to bounce back immediately. Check out his 2025 World Masters Friday preview and tips below.

New Format

I am not sure that this new format is a great one for betting on. Certainly at the best of five sets level. William O’Connor described it as ‘brutal’, and he won his match. He also said that it probably helped him that he had played the preliminary day and was then familiar with the format.

It was pretty clear that Cross wasn’t, and he unravelled after winning the first set easily. He wasn’t even sure if it was his turn at times. He averaged 103, but ended up losing the match 1-3, which is a bit nuts.

Both our match bets lost, and two of our three outright selections lost on what was a very disappointing night. The format is decent to watch, but it is meant to put more jeopardy into the matches, which it seems to be doing, and that is not great for punters.

James Wade vs. Mike de Decker

Both players are coming in ‘cold’. Mike de Decker didn’t play in last week’s World Series as he was ‘on holiday’. He may just have been still pissed off that he was overlooked for the Premier League. Neither player has experience of the format and neither has played since the World Championship. That is not giving me good vibes.

Their H2H record is 4-3 to De Decker and he has won four of their last five. De Decker is the 1.73 favourite, Wade 2.20 and I won’t argue with those odds. No bet.

2025 World Masters Friday Tip: No bet

Dave Chisnall vs. Cameron Menzies

Another very hard match to call. Menzies has the advantage of having played in the preliminary round and that might be the difference. He averaged 96.39 across his three matches, only losing one set when beating Berry van Peer 2-1, Ricky Evans 2-0 and Gian Veen 2-0. He averaged 106 in that last match, but averages don’t mean much in such short matches.

Chisnall hasn’t played since losing 2-3 to Ricky Evans in the World Championships. That was over a month ago. That is plenty of time to have treatment on his bad back, but what his fitness levels are, I have no idea.

Their H2H record is 6-2 to Chisnall, but Menzies improved a lot last year, but he still lost two of their three matches in 2024. They have played in two sets based tournaments and Chisnall won both.

We are on Menzies outright and the way things went last night, he is likely to be doomed. No bet.

2025 World Masters Friday Tip: No bet

Jonny Clayton vs. Martin Schindler

Another two players who have not played since the World Championship and neither have played in this format. Their H2H record is 4-3 to Schindler and there is not a lot between them statistically speaking. Unfortunately, having no idea of how either player is performing, it is hard to have an opinion. The market has Clayton as the 1.80 favourite and Schindler 2.10. I’ll pass on this one.

2025 World Masters Friday Tip: No bet

Nathan Aspinall vs. Andrew Gilding

Aspinall may want to consider changing his nickname to ‘Sick Note’. He picked up another arm injury in Bahrain, namely bursitis in his throwing elbow. As I said in the outright preview, he looked fine in an interview earlier this week, and says that it is not a problem, but you still need to be aware of it.

He did play in both World Series events but only won one match. He played OK, with the exception of his 1-6 loss to Kevin Doets last weekend.

Andrew Gilding’s last match was a 0-4 loss to Nathan Aspinall at the World Championship. He wasn’t playing with any great consistency at the end of last season.

Their H2H record is 8-3 to Aspinall and he has won their last four, all played between September 2022 and last December.

Aspinall is the 1.55 favourite, with Gilding 2.60. The money has been going on Gilding. Now is that because of the injury scare for Aspinall, or just that the format is a bit of a leveller? Under normal circumstances, I might take Aspinall on the handicap, but his performance last Saturday was far from inspiring. That said, it is hard to fancy Gilding either. No bet.

2025 World Masters Friday Tip: No bet

Chris Dobey vs. Ryan Searle

Dobey had a run out at both World Series tournaments but only won one match and that was against a Bahraini qualifier. He reached the semi-final in the World Championship and was picked for the Premier League as a result.

Searle reckons he wouldn’t get a pick for the Premier League in any case, and he might be right. His stage form isn’t strong enough. Heavy Metal hasn’t played since the World Championships. He played well, averaging 99 when beating Matt Campbell 3-0, but his 101 was not enough to beat Ryan Joyce, who won their third round match 4-3.

His form was very inconsistent at the end of 2024, but there was some very good stuff, interspersed with some ordinary form. Not bad, just a lot of low 90s.

Dobey has a 9-2 record against Searle and he won their only TV match 10-6 in 2023.

Dobey is the 1.85 favourite, Searle 2.05. Dobey has won their last four matches and won them convincingly and I will take a chance on him getting the hang of the format and extending his run vs. Searle. Heavy Metal only ever won one match in this event in its previous guise.

2025 World Masters Friday Tip: 1 point Chris Dobey to win @ 1.85 with Ladbrokes

Luke Littler vs. Andy Baetens

Littler is the shortest priced favourite of all of the first round matches. He is just 1.08 to win. Last night, Stephen Bunting was 1.15 to beat Willy Borland, and he very nearly lost. He was 0-2 down to Borland but the young Scot just couldn’t get it over the line and lost three sets in a row, two of them 1-2. It was a bullet dodged for The Bullet. Is Littler in any danger?

Baetens was a very successful WDF player, winning the 2023 World Championship amongst other titles. He won his tour card last year but has found life in the PDC harder. I can only tell you about what he did in yesterday’s preliminary rounds, as the Darts Orakel database has had a major melt down, and has Baetens only playing one match in 2024, which is not the case. Hopefully they can sort it out soon, but they are not great at communicating with their customers.

Solid Form

Baetens averaged 93.69 across his three matches, beating De Sousa, Lukeman and Labanauskas. He only dropped one set and that was in his first match with De Sousa. He averaged 100.87 in his 2-0 win over Labanauskas and that was a high quality match, with Lucky D averaging 97.55. That should be a warning that Baetens is not just here to make up the numbers.

Their H2H record is interesting with Baetens being 4-2 up. OK, his four wins came in the Modus Super Series in 2022 and 2023 and Littler won their only PDC match, 6-1 last August.

Obviously Littler deserves to be the hot favourite, but this format is designed to provide a minefield for the top players in the early rounds. Baetens will have played in this format in his WDF days, so it will be more familiar to him, and he played in Wednesday’s qualifying rounds.

I am happy to back Baetens to get something out of the match. Of the eight matches played last night, only one was won to nil.

2025 World Masters Friday Tip: 1 point Andy Baetens to win +2.5 sets @ 2.25 with Boylesports

Michael van Gerwen vs. Bradley Brooks

Bam Bam Brooks won his tour card back earlier this month, having lost it in 2023. He is still only 24 years old, and he wasn’t quite ready for the whole Pro Tour experience when he first played in it from 2018 to 2023.

However, it does mean he has a lot of experience for a 24 year old. He was the World Youth Champion in 2020. He has played in two World Championships, and the 2021 Grand Slam, qualifying for the knockout phase. Brooks averaged 93.63 in his qualifying matches, beating Ian White, Cam Crabtree and Krzysztof Ratajski. Brooks didn’t drop a set across the three.

MVG returned to action last weekend at the Dutch Darts Masters where he beat a disappointing Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-1, before losing 3-6 to Luke Littler. Van Gerwen did play very well to reach the World Championship final and he needs that kind of form to have a better 2025 than he had in 2024.

These two have played twice, with MVG winning both. The first was a 6-2 win in 2021 and the last was 7-5 win in a Players Championship semi-final in 2023. I do not expect Brooks to beat MVG, but a lot depends on which MVG shows up. He wasn’t great last weekend, but he was just back from holiday and not fully warmed up. Any more of that and Brooks might get a set.

Van Gerwen is the 1.20 favourite, with Brooks 5.25. I will pass on this one.

2025 World Masters Friday Tip: No bet

Gary Anderson vs. Dimitri van den Bergh

Anderson comes in cold, not having played since losing his opening match at the Ally Pally, 0-3 to Jeffrey de Graaf. Anderson had a good season on the floor in 2024, and he also got a Euro Tour win, but his season ended like a damp squib, going out at the first fence in the Players Championship finals and World Championship.

He did reach the semi-finals of the Grand Slam but was on the wrong end of a freak performance from Ryan Meikle in the Players Championship finals, before that poor performance in the World Championship.

Dimitri van den Bergh isn’t ‘Happy’ anymore, having changed his walk on at the Dutch Darts Masters last weekend. I am going to miss his little pre-match dance, said no one, ever.

Poor Form

It didn’t change his form, however, as he averaged 88.99 in a 4-6 loss to Luke Littler in the first round. His game has been in decline for a couple of years, but he still pops up with good showings in big tournaments, such as winning last year’s UK Open. His overall win rate in 2024 was just 48%.

These are two mercurial players. Both very capable of great things but also of bombing out. Their H2H record is 7-6 to the Belgian, and one of Dimitri’s two major titles was won in this arena during the lockdown 2020 World Matchplay.

Anderson is the 1.37 favourite, van den Bergh 3.30. Both players can be flaky and with Anderson not having played, and no doubt not having practiced, I am happy to leave this alone. No bet.

2025 World Masters Friday Tip: No bet

-JamesPunt