Sunday Afternoon UK Open Darts Preview

The level of bizarreness has been off the scale so far. No more so with Peter Wright losing to Ritchie Burnett last night. Burnett was mediocre, averaged 86.9 and won 10-8. Today will be the day the madness ends, check out our Sunday Afternoon UK Open preview and tips below.

Andrew Gilding vs. Martin Schindler

It is not a complete surprise to see these two have a good run. Gilding is a former semi-finalist (2015) and has been a better player in the last year or two, but he has only put in one decent performance so far, a 99.6 average when beating Ricky Evans. His other three performances would not usually have seen him win. Gilding has won nine of his last ten matches and had been playing better than he has been this weekend.

Schindler has averaged 97.1 across his three matches and is worth his place in a quarter final. He has won eight of his last ten matches and his last defeat was in last weekend’s Baltic Sea Darts Open quarter final, going down 4-6 to eventual winner Dave Chisnall. That was his only sub 90 average in his last ten matches.

Schindler’s problem is that he has never beaten Gilding. He has lost all four previous meetings. Both players are seeking their first PDC title of any description, so both will be feeling nervous.

Schindler is the 1.73 favourite with Gilding 2.10, despite that H2H record. Picking the winner with any great confidence is impossible, but another long match would be no surprise.

Sunday Afternoon UK Open tip: 1 point over 16.5 legs @ 1.75 with Ladbrokes

Michael van Gerwen vs. Nathan Aspinall

MVG has his sights on a fourth UK Open title, Aspinall his second.

Aspinall used to give MVG problems but he now finds him very difficult to beat. MVG has won seven of their last eight, including a 6-4 win in the PL on Thursday night. They met in the UK Open in 2020 and MVG won that 10-8. MVG has averaged 99.8 so far, Aspinall 96.4.

Van Gerwen blew Luke Humphries away last night, averaging 103 and winning 10-4. Aspinall effectively got a bye after Joe Cullen turned up playing like me and The Asp won 10-2 with a 93 average. At least it didn’t take anything out of him, but the same can be said for MVG.

Van Gerwen is the 1.30 favourite, Aspinall 4.33.

Aspinall expects to lose against MVG these days and he probably will. The odds are of no appeal. Van Gerwen is not the rock solid proposition he once was, but he has got into Aspinall’s head. No bet.

Sunday Afternoon UK Open tip: No Bet

Ritchie Burnett vs. Dimitri van den Bergh

The Prince of Wales is averaging 86.4 and he is in the quarter final. The UK Open can throw up surprises, but surely, he has used up a lifetimes supply of get out jail free cards. He was lucky that he was playing a Peter Wright who doesn’t know what he is doing anymore. Using four different sets of darts in a match? That is desperation and losing to Ritchie Burnett shows what a state Wright’s head is in.

Van den Bergh beat Gary Anderson 10-8 and his 97.4 average reflects his tournament average. He has been solid in all three matches, had to work hard in two and surely, he isn’t going to pass over a chance like this.

Dimitri is the 1.22 favourite, Burnett 5.00. The crowd will be cheering on Burnett and the best thing for Van den Bergh to do is to get the lead and quieten the place down. Just play his normal game, and he wins at canter.

Sunday Afternoon UK Open tip: 1 point Dimitri van den Bergh to win -4.5 legs @ 2.10 with Boylesports

Rob Cross vs. Adam Gawlas

Cross has quietly gone about his business and put in three good performances. He was taken to a decider in round four, beating Barney 10-9, he averaged 101 when beating Beaton 10-3 and was good enough to beat Jeffrey de Zwaan 10-7 last night. He last met Gawlas in the Grand Slam last November and he was a comfortable 5-2 winner. Voltage is averaging nearly 6 points more than Gawlas so far.

Gawlas has reached two euro tour quarter finals, so this is the biggest match of his life. He has played four matches so far and put in three good performances, with averages of 97, 97 and 100. There was an 87 against Doets, but so far, so good. He gave O’Connor a 10-3 beating last night and O’Connor averaged 96, but was poor on the doubles.

Make no mistake, Gawlas is playing well enough to give Cross problems. Cross is the 1.30 favourite with Gawlas 3.70. Is Gawlas backable at 3.70, or is the handicap route better?

Cross has played three quarter finals here and lost two. His win was a 10-7 over Josh Payne in 2019 his two defeats were heavy ones to MVG and Anderson.

Sunday Afternoon UK Open tip: 1 point Adam Gawlas to win +3.5 legs @ 1.73 with Boylesports

Sunday Afternoon UK Open tip: 0.5 point Cross to win 10-7 @ 8.00 with Betfred, Skybet

That is all for me. The Grand Prix beckons followed by a few days off.

-JamesPunt