2026 Baltic Sea Darts Open R1 Preview & Tips – JP
2026 Baltic Sea Darts Open R1 Preview
James already posted his outright preview and tips, read that here. Check out James Punt’s 2026 Baltic Sea Darts Open R1 preview below.
Ricky Evans vs. Teemu Harju
This is an interesting matchup, which may well go to the 1.18 favourite Ricky Evans, but can a player who has lost nine of his last eleven matches really be a 1.18 shot?
Evans is a self-proclaimed fruitcake and can be brilliant or very poor. Recently it has been the latter. His last ten matches saw a ton plus average, two sub 90 averages, and two sub 80 averages. About half of his last ten averages would have been enough for an easy win over Harju, but the other half?
Harju has played in three Euro Tour events and lost all three first round matches, two of them 0-6. He did take four legs off Ryan Joyce in ET5 last year.
Harju nearly made a name for himself at the World Championship in December, taking Alan Soutar to a deciding set in an epic match, low on quality, big on wasps. His recent form on the Nordic Baltic tour saw him win four of his last ten matches, hitting five sub 80 averages and just two 90+.
Evans really should win this, but first up on a Friday is the graveyard shift, and Evans prefers a crowd. He might make it hard for himself.
Sadly, the bookies are showing very little interest in this clash of the Titans. You can get Harju @ 2.12 with a +2.5 handicap, but I will have a small bet on a correct score.
2026 Baltic Sea Darts Open R1 Tip: 0.5 point Evans to win 6-4 @ 6.00 generally available
Ryan Joyce vs. Christain Kist
Joyce has won his last four first round matches on the Euro Tour and reached a couple of quarter finals, including last weekend. He played Kist in last weekend’s second round and won 6-2.
Kist got a bye into the second-round last weekend after a very late withdrawal by Gerwyn Price, but he didn’t take advantage. Kist has played in 26 Euro Tour events and lost 15 opening matches.
More recently, in the last three years, Kist has played six Euro Tours and lost four opening matches. His recent form sees five wins from his last ten matches and six sub 90 averages.
These two have met four times with Joyce winning all four, two 6-3 and the last two 6-2.
2026 Baltic Sea Darts Open R1 Tip: 1 point Ryan Joyce to win -2.5 legs @ 2.63 with Betfred
Alan Soutar vs. Dimitri van den Bergh
I have taken leave of my senses and decided to back Van den Bergh. His career nose dived in the last year or two and he has fallen outside of the top 32 in the PDC world rankings. He has won six of his last ten matches however, something of a comeback on his form of the last year. Earlier this year Van den Bergh had a losing run that extended to thirteen matches.
Alan Soutar had a good run of form around the same time as Van den Bergh was in the mire. Soots was a quarter finalist in PC5 and runner up in PC7 at the end of March, but in the last month he has played eleven matches and lost nine, including his last six.
This looks to be a bit of a coin toss, or even slight favouritism for the Belgian. However, Van den Bergh is the 2.63 outsider, which makes him the value bet.
