2022 PDC Masters Friday Tips by James Punt
2022 PDC Masters Friday Preview
So, we are finally back in action after a nice post World Championship break. The PDC Masters gets underway tonight and as ever, James Punt will be on the lookout for winners. Hopefully we can get off to a solid start, check out his 2022 PDC Masters Friday preview and tips below.
Krzysztof Ratajski vs. Gabriel Clemens
The H2H record shows an 8-0 lead for Ratajski. All matches were played within the last three years and only their 2021 World Championship match went to a decider, the others have largely been comfortable wins for the Polish Eagle. However, their most recent form suggests that Clemens has a chance to chalk up his first win.
Ratajski finished 2021 by losing four of his last five matches. He failed to get out of the group stage in the Grand Slam, lost his second match at the Players Championship Finals and lost 1-3 to Steve Lennon at the World Championship. Ratajski is trying to land a stage title but while his stage form improved in 2021, he was getting frustrated by still not being able to make a final, never mind win a televised title.
Wanting it too much? Maybe but he fluffed his lines at the business end of the season. He made two televised semi-finals in 2021, but he may be in danger of becoming one of those very talented players who finds winning TV titles impossible.
Weak Finish To 2021
Gabriel Clemens has yet to get beyond the last 16 in any televised tournament and like Ratajski, he finished 2021 with a whimper. He won two of his group matches at the Grand Slam, including a win over Peter Wright, but his loss to Fallon Sherrock meant he didn’t get beyond the group stage. He then went out at the last 32 stage of the Players Championship and World Championship.
While Ratajski is desperate to land a TV title, Clemens has yet to win a PDC title of any kind. He has come very close, and his time will come but both players are a bit frustrated. Clemens has won seven of his last ten matches but his last four saw sub 90 averages.
It is always difficult to judge a player’s form after a month off. How much practice the players have been putting in during the January break is an unknown and everyone is coming in a bit cold form wise. Ratajski made his debut here last year, losing 2-6 to Simon Whitlock. Clemens is making his debut.
Ratajski is the 1.67 favourite, Clemens the 2.30 outsider. That looks about right. Ratajski is the heavier scorer, the more experienced player and he has that very convincing H2H record over Clemens. Based on their past form, Ratajski is taken to cover the handicap.
2022 PDC Masters Friday Tip: 1 point Ratajski to win -1.5 legs @ 2.10 Betvictor
Dave Chisnall vs. Stephen Bunting
Dave Chisnall is a permanent fixture at this tournament and while he has never won it, he has reached one final and one semi-final. He has lost three of his six opening matches. His 2021 season was a low key one. A quarter final here and a quarter final in the World Grand Prix were the only highlights and he failed to win a floor event either.
Bunting is making just his fourth appearance in the Masters, and he has lost two of his three opening matches and won just one match here. He enjoyed a reasonable 2021, reaching two major semi-finals and winning a players championship title.
Closely Matched
Their H2H record is close, 9-7 to Chisnall but he has won their last six matches and Bunting has not beaten Chizzy since November 2017. Bunting was another player who ended 2021 in poor form, winning just one group match at the Grand Slam and losing his opening matches at the Players Championship Finals and World Championship. He was playing better than that suggests but he still failed to cash in in the big events. It was a similar story for Bunting here last year, he averaged 101 against Joe Cullen, but lost his first round match 4-6.
Chisnall is the 1.73 favourite to win and again, those odds are hard to argue against. Chisnall remains one of the sports best 180 hitters, ranked 6th over the last 12 months and Bunting is no slouch in that department either, ranking 22nd.
2022 PDC Masters Friday Tip: 1 point over 5.5 180’s @ 2.00 with Betfair
Ryan Searle vs. Merv King
These two players ended last season in very different form. King lost six of his last ten matches, but he reached the quarter final of the World Championship, despite averaging just 89.6. Searle won seven of his last ten, thanks to his run to the final of the Players Championship finals. Both his defeats in his last ten came against Peter Wright.
It must be said that while Searle was winning matches, he wasn’t playing that well most of the time. The raw stats say that Searle was the better player at the end of 2021, but in reality, neither were near their best and both players did well to cash in as well as they did.
The H2H stats show a 3-3 score line and their last four matches ended 6-5. Picking the winner here looks tricky, but another close match would be no surprise.
2022 PDC Masters Friday Tip: 1 point over 9.5 legs @ 1.95 with Boylesports, Hills
Rob Cross vs. Brendan Dolan
Cross is the 1.61 favourite here with Dolan a 2.40 shot. They have played each other eight times, and both have won four. They met five times last year with Cross winning three. Their stats for the last 12 months are very similar in terms of 3 dart averages, checkout rates and even 180s per leg. Cross is the higher ranked player, hence his favouritism, but as usual, Dolan is underestimated by the layers.
The History Maker has turned his career around in the last year or two and is now up to 23rd in the world rankings, but the form based FDI rankings see Dolan ranked 11th, just four places behind Cross. Like Dolan, Rob Cross has been able to arrest his drop down the rankings by winning the European Championship.
Cross Consistent
Voltage isn’t quite the player he was in 2017/18 but he is a more serious proposition these days. He has had only 3 sub 90 averages in his last 50 matches which shows that his consistency is much improved. Dolan has had 10 sub nineties in his last 50 and Cross has more highs and fewer lows than Dolan.
Both players have won six of their last ten matches but in terms of this tournament, neither have a good record. Cross has played five Masters matches and won one in 2018 while Dolan has played two and lost two, his last appearance being in 2015.
Their last match was at the European Championship Finals where Cross won 10-4 before going on to win the tournament.
2022 PDC Masters Friday Tip: 1 point Dolan to win @ 2.40 with Unibet, Betfred
Dimitri van den Bergh vs. Ian White
Both players have lost six of their last ten matches and neither has won a match at the Masters before. Van den Bergh has only played once, but White has lost all seven of his previous matches here. Their H2H record is 3-3 with Dimitri winning the last two.
White is slipping down the rankings and his form has dropped in the last two years. His win rate has dropped to below 50% from 71% in 2019. His seasonal average is dropping and his confidence likewise. He is still beating the lesser players, but his record against the top players recently has been poor.
Poor Form
Van den Bergh had a bit of a disappointing 2021 but he still won two players championship events. However, the year ended with him in poor form, winning just one of his last seven matches. He lost the final of the World Series of Darts Finals, lost all three of his final players championship events first round matches, lost his second round match in the Players Championship Finals, and opening World Championship match.
Van den Bergh is the better player but his most recent form is worrying. He caught Covid 19 at the tail end of 2021 and his form went out the window. The Belgian is the 1.45 favourite, which looks very short given that he has won just one of his last six matches. If he has found his form again during the break, then he wins, but it is hard to make a case for either player here. One of them has to win and there may be some value in White’s odds of 2.90, but only if Van den Bergh remains in the mire.
2022 PDC Masters Friday Tip: 1 point Ian White to win @ 2.80 with Ladbrokes
Joe Cullen vs. Daryl Gurney
Joe Cullen has a fairly comprehensive H2H record over Superchin, 11-4 overall. Gurney won their last match, ending a run of six consecutive wins for Cullen.
Gurney ended 2021 in decent form, reaching the quarter final of the Players Championship Finals, losing a final leg decider to Ryan Searle and he narrowly lost his World Championship third round match 3-4 to Rob Cross. However, his standard of play was more like vintage Superchin. He won six of his last ten matches and while his consistency still needs to improve, he looked in better form than for a while.
Joe Cullen had a strange year, no doubt influenced by the death of his mother. At times we saw the very best of him, at others, he went AWOL. He won two players championship events and reached the semi-final of the European Championships, but that big TV win remained elusive. He won five of his last ten matches before the break and while there was some really good stuff there, the consistency wasn’t.
Cullen is the 1.80 favourite to win, Gurney 2.10 and given their H2H record, that looks fair enough. You can make a case for either to win but going high on 180s might be the way to go here. Both are big maximum hitters and Cullen was hitting a lot at the end of last year.
2022 PDC Masters Friday Tip: 1 point over 5.5 180’s @ 1.91 with Boylesports
Dirk van Duivenbode vs. Simon Whitlock
The Wizard is only ranked 25th but he got the call up for this when Danny Noppert opted to miss the tournament in order to be with his partner who is expecting their first child. The veteran Australian is slipping down the rankings, and this time it might be a more permanent trend. It was a poor end to a poor season for Whitlock, he lost four of his last five matches including a first round exit at the Players Championship Finals and losing his opening match at the World Championship, averaging 87 in both. He has won just four of his last fourteen matches.
Aubergenius Scoring Heavily
Dirk van Duijvenbode has won six of his last ten matches, but he had been playing really well in November, scoring very heavily, but still losing matches. He lost his Players Championship first round match 5-6 to Ryan Miekle despite averaging 105. He lost a players championship match 5-6 to Darius Labanauskas despite averaging 99, and another 5-6 to Florian Hempel when Dirk averaged 105. Those defeats were a bit harsh, but he should be fancied to win those matches nine times out of ten.
If Van Duijvenbode is still playing near the kind of level he was a couple of months ago, he can win this easily, but there is no guarantee given that his last match was five weeks ago. Their H2H record is 4-1 to Van Duijvenbode and he has won the last four, the last one 6-0 last April.
The Dutchman is the 1.57 favourite to win, Whitlock 2.40. Van Duijvenbode is making his tournament debut while Whitlock has played in eight previous Masters, winning just two matches.
2022 PDC Masters Friday Tip: 1 point Dirk van Duijvenbode to win -1.5 legs @ 1.95 with Fitzdares
Luke Humphries vs. Devon Petersen
Both players are making their Masters’ debut. Petersen got the call to replace Aspinall a few days ago so he will have had some time to prepare himself, but he looks right up against it here. His form collapsed last year and he went from winning a euro tour event and really looking the part, to obscurity. He ended 2021 with just one win from his last twelve matches. He hasn’t put in a good performance since a 97.5 average back in June.
Luke Humphries is still chasing his first senior title and is making his Masters’ debut. He started 2021 well, reaching the final of the UK Open in March, runner up in PC6 in March, runner up in PC9 in April and again in PC16 in June. The second half of the year saw a Euro Tour semi-final but his form tailed off when it was time for the big events.
Humphries got a bit of a Brucey bonus when Aspinall pulled out. Even an injured Asp would have been a tougher assignment than playing the rank out of form Petersen.
Humphries is 4-1 up on Petersen (one was in the original remote Home tour), Petersen’s only win against Humphries was back in 2019. Cool Hand’s wins have all been fairly comfortable, 3-1 (sets), 6-3 and 6-2 in the real world matches.
