2023 Sunday Grand Slam of Darts Preview – JP
2023 Sunday Grand Slam of Darts Preview & Tips
James Punt made a fabulous start on Saturday with four winners from five tips. He has also previewed a selection of group stage matches on Day 2, check out his 2023 Sunday Grand Slam of Darts tips below.
Gian van Veen vs. Nathan Rafferty
Van Veen will be hacked off that he didn’t get a win yesterday. 4-0 up against Ryan Searle and he lost 4-5. He has won seven of his last ten matches but four of his last six have seen averages of 90 or less. His form has to be questioned.
Nathan Rafferty will be used to losing to Gerwyn Price by now but while he lost 1-5, he didn’t play badly, averaging 95.6. His record on the Development tour is easily overlooked but we have to remember that he has won ten Development Tour titles, three more than Van Veen.
The Natural has also beaten Van Veen in their two previous matches, both on the Development Tour. He is a better player than odds of 3.75 suggest and in a first to five format, he has to be given a better chance than that.
2023 Sunday Grand Slam of Darts tip: 1 point Nathan Rafferty to win @ 3.75 with BET365
Brendan Dolan vs. Haruki Muramatsu
Muramatsu will have been pig sick to lose to Danny Noppert yesterday. He was the better player for most of the match but he completely lost his doubling radar in the latter stages and he fell in a heap.
Dolan was poor against Andrew Gilding, averaging just 85 despite being 75% on his doubles The Ulsterman had won his last four matches but it is hard to say that he is in good form. His scoring has been light on the whole and he looks worth opposing. He has only made it out of the group stage once in four attempts and he knows that this is a must win match.
If Muramatsu is as poor on the doubles again, then he loses but at the odds, he looks worth backing.
2023 Sunday Grand Slam of Darts tip: 1 point Muramatsu to win @ 2.90 with Ladbrokes
Dirk van Duijvenbode vs. Steve Lennon
Lennon did his usual trick of starting well vs Luke Humphries, going 2-0 up and then losing the next five legs in a row. Resilience is not a strong point of his game. He played OK, apart from missing six darts to go 3-2 up, by which time Humphries lit the after burners and hit legs of 15, 14 and 14 darts to close the match out.
Dirk van Duijvenbode managed to get four legs against Gary Anderson, despite still carrying his shoulder injury. Anderson had one of those matches where he really wanted to win but tried so hard he couldn’t hit a double. He missed eighteen in the end. He was lucky that Dirk was nearly as bad, missing sixteen. It was a poor match and Van Duijvenbode was arguably lucky to get four legs.
These two don’t do close matches. Their last seven best of eleven leg matches saw four 6-2 results, a 6-0, a 6-3 and a 6-4. Only one requiring over nine legs. They also had a 4-1 in the World Cup in 2022.
Dirk is 8-2 in the career H2H but I’m keen to take him on at odds against due to his injury. Lennon is a bit flakey but he can play. Dirk has lost his last five matches and is clearly struggling.
2023 Sunday Grand Slam of Darts tip: 1 point Steve Lennon to win @ 2.75 with Betvictor
Michael Smith vs. Krzysztof Ratajski
Smith is 9-5 against the Polish Eagle and they have met twice in this this tournament before, both group matches. Smith won both, 5-2 in 2020 and 5-4 in 2018.
He is 5-0 on TV against Ratajski. Smith played well in his 5-2 win over Nathan Girvan last night, averaging just shy of 99. He is up for this event, recognising its importance in his career.
Ratajski also played well yesterday, averaging 99 in a 5-4 win over James Wade. He is likely to need to play just as well to get a result here.
He is in decent form, winning six of his last ten matches, and he hit some big averages in the last two Players Championship events. The Polish Eagle has averaged over 94 in all of his last ten matches, with four ton plus averages for good measure.
Smith is going to be tested going by Ratajski’s form and we may get a repeat of their 2018 match which went to a deciding leg.
2023 Sunday Grand Slam of Darts tip: 1 point over 7.5 legs @ 1.80 generally available
2023 Sunday Grand Slam of Darts tip: 0.5 point Smith to win 5-4 @ 6.50 with Betfred
Luke Humphries vs. Gary Anderson
The two big guns end the show. Gary won’t be happy having to stay up so late. Anderson is 4-3 in the H2Hs and on TV, it is 1-1. If Anderson is as bad on the doubles as he was last night, he will get thumped, but he can’t be that bad again, can he?
He could, going by his last three matches. His checkout rate across his last three matches is just 20%, so last night wasn’t just a one off.
Humphries averaged 100 in his 5-2 win over Steve Lennon and we have to expect more of the same from one of the very top players right now. He last played Anderson last month and averaged 105 in a 6-2 win on the floor.
This is all about Anderson. Humphries is metronomically good so it is up to Anderson to get his doubles sorted out, otherwise it will be a short match. Anderson wants this title badly, maybe too badly. He got away with one yesterday and he should still be able to qualify even if he loses this.
