Sunday Afternoon European Darts Open Tips – JP
Sunday Afternoon European Darts Open Preview
It was another decent session for James Punt in Germany last night. He is hoping to finish off strong today, get his Sunday Afternoon European Darts Open preview and tips below.
Down to the last 16 and there was quite a bit of muscle flexing yesterday. Gerwyn Price averaged 109 and very nearly lost against Krzysztof Ratajski, winning a 6-5 thriller. MVG averaged 108 in his 6-4 win over Raymond van Barneveld. Rob Cross had a 105 average when beating Ryan Joyce 6-1 and there were 104 averages for Dirk van Duijvenbode and Dimitri van den Bergh.
We have three outright bets still live, MVG, Dirk and Chizzy. Ryan Searle once again went out early on the Euro Tour, but hopefully we can get one into the final later tonight.
Danny Noppert vs. Dave Chisnall
There was little sign of the kind of form that Chisnall was showing at the Players Championship last weekend as he limped to a 6-2 win over Jim Williams. Did both players drag each other down? Perhaps, certainly the standard of doubling was poor. Chisnall will have to do much better here.
Chisnall has won eight of his last ten matches and his 91 average yesterday was by far his weakest performance across those ten. His last twelve matches have seen nine ton plus averages, including a 113 and a 117. There would seem to be plenty more in the locker.
Steady Eddy
Danny Noppert also had a 6-2 win. He defeated Chris Dobey who finally was consumed by fatigue, averaging just 80. Noppert has won six of his last ten and his scoring has not been in the same league as Chisnall, with just the one ton plus average, but he is a steady mid 90s player as a matter of routine and Chisnall will have to play a lot better than he did yesterday.
Their H2H record is close, 4-3 to Chisnall, and he has won their last four matches. Chisnall is the 1.67 favourite and Noppert the 2.30 outsider. I expect a better performance from Chisnall and hopefully he can move into the quarter-finals. The Odds look about right, perhaps there is a little value in Chisnall, but I’ll happily stick with the outright bet as my main interest in the match.
I will take a chance on the 180’s market. Chizzy is ranked 2nd in the 180s per leg table, Noppert 22nd. Dave failed to hit a single one yesterday, much to his ire, but in the two Players Championship events he hit 45 across 83 legs. Something similar and he got land the bet by himself.
Sunday Afternoon European Darts Open Tip: 1 point over 5.5 180s @ 1.73 with Betfair
Damon Heta vs. Ryan Meikle
Heta beat Andy Boulton 6-4 in a good match. Not for its scoring, but it was a hard fought win and he was very relieved to have got over the line with a 143 checkout. That made it six wins from his last ten matches but he has been steady rather than spectacular.
Ryan Meikle didn’t have to do a lot to beat a very out of sorts Jonny Clayton. The Ferret only averaged 87 and The Barber strolled to a 6-3 win, but it was not the same kind of performance that we saw when he averaged 100 when beating Nico Kurz 6-2 in the first round.
Like Heta, Meikle has won six of last ten matches, but what stands out is that his scoring is lighter than Heta’s. He does have a good A game, but his 2023 average is 90.59.
Their H2H record is 2-0 to Heta and there were two very comfortable wins, 6-2 and 6-0. The 6-0 was this February, so fresh in both players’ minds.
Heta is the 1.44 favourite and Meikle 2.90. I’ll take Heta to cover the handicap.
Sunday Afternoon European Darts Open Tip: 1 point Damon Heta to win -1.5 legs @ 1.73 generally available
Michael Smith vs. Gerwen Price
It really did look like Price was once again going to lose a match when averaging well over a ton, but he just edged out Ratajski in a great match. He now faces the World Champion who is not in good form. Smith says he is getting better but still feeling unwell with a stomach bug. He only averaged 90.2 in his 6-3 win over Rene Eidams, but it was just a bit of light sparring for him. The real work starts here.
The H2H record shows a 21 – 18 lead for Smith. They have met three times in 2023 and Smith has won two. Those two wins came before he got ill.
It is interesting that in the best of eleven leg format matches they have played, that very few have required more than nine legs. Overall they have played 22 and 12 were finished in nine legs or less, but when looking at the last twelve, ten have seen nine or less legs.
I would expect Price to win and in under 10 legs.
Sunday Afternoon European Darts Open Tip: 1 point Gerwyn Price to win -1.5 legs @ 2.30 with Ladbrokes
Michael van Gerwen vs. Dimitri van den Bergh
Van Gerwen was very happy to beat Barney 6-4 and having hit a 108 average, so he should. He wants another European Darts Open title and that was a good start. He has won eight of his last ten matches, with both defeats being against Gerwyn Price.
Van den Bergh beat James Wade 6-2 and averaged 104, his third highest average in 2023, and he has played a lot of darts in 2023. He has won seven of his last ten and is looking in better form than he has for a while.
MVG will feel the more comfortable of the two as he makes his way to the oche. He has a 15-1 H2H record with Dimitri. The Belgian’s sole win was at the German Darts Masters World Series event back in 2018. They have met three times in 2023 with MVG winning both PL matches 6-4 and an 11-6 win the UK Open semi-final.
MVG is the 1.40 favourite and Dimitri 3.40.
Van den Bergh is playing well enough to give Van Gerwen a game, but it’s likely he comes up short again.
Sunday Afternoon European Darts Open Tip: 0.5 point MVG to win 6-4 @ 6.00 with Unibet
Ricardo Pietreczko vs. Stephen Bunting
Pietreczko pulled off a sensational come back from 1-5 down to win 6-5 yesterday. Wright played his part by missing ten doubles and the German only averaged 87, but it was fun and the 3.25 winning bet was most welcome.
Bunting has won both his matches 6-5 and he has been lucky that both his opponents, Gurney and Searle both only averaged 87 against him. It would be no surprise to see Pietreczko average something similar.
He is in good form, winning six of his last ten matches. He reached the semi-final of PC8 on Monday and he hit a couple of ton plus averages but in his last ten, his averages have ranged from 102 to 72, so he comes with a consistency warning.
Bunting has won seven of his last ten matches and he has hit a 111 average, but also three sub 91s. That said, he is a much more consistent and experienced player.
Bunting is the 1.48 favourite and Pietreczko 2.75. The odds look about right and this makes little appeal for betting purposes.
Sunday Afternoon European Darts Open Tip: No Bet
Rob Cross vs. William O’Connor
Rob Cross is flying under the radar, possibly due to the fact that he came here in poor form. He put that behind him with a near flawless performance yesterday, beating Ryan Joyce 6-1. It wasn’t a case of Joyce playing badly, he averaged 99.3, but Cross just didn’t give him a chance.
A flash in the pan, or is he running hot? That is hard to say. He has lost five of his last ten matches and he has not been showing much consistency. One great performance doesn’t mean he is suddenly The Man, but it makes me wary of taking him on.
Outside Chance
O’Connor could have beaten Schindler using two darts, such was the poor performance by the German. O’Connor doesn’t care as he has now won £4000 and has an outsider’s chance of adding to that. He has won six of his last ten matches and he is playing OK, but he hasn’t beaten anyone of note since beating Noppert in the UK Open at the start of the month.
Their H2H record is 6-2 to Cross and he is the 1.44 favourite, with O’Connor 3.00. There is a bit of value in O’Connor’s odds but not enough to get me involved. No bet.
Sunday Afternoon European Darts Open Tip: No Bet
Brendan Dolan vs. Josh Rock
A Northern Irish derby between the nine dart hitting Dolan and the next big thing in darts, Josh Rock. Dolan got lucky in getting a bye into the third round after Luke Humphries was hit by the curse of the European Darts Open. Two players hospitalised in the last two years must be some sort of record.
Rock beat Ian White 6-2 in a terrible game of darts. White averaged 78.3 to set back his comeback by some margin. Rock only averaged 87 but that is all he needed to do. He has won seven of his last ten matches and his seasonal average is 96.9, so we should expect to see a better performance today. He was runner up to MVG in the final of PC7 a week ago so he is in good form.
Dolan has won seven of his last ten matches, but one of his defeats was at the hands of Josh Rock, who beat him 6-2 on the way to the final of PC7. Their H2H record is 3-0 to Rock and he has given Dolan an absolute battering in all three, winning 6-2, 6-1 and 6-2. His averages in those three matches were 101, 121 and 109. I bet Dolan is really looking forward to this, not.
