2024 World Grand Prix Wednesday Preview

Just one winner on Tuesday for us. It was a tough night but James Punt is looking to bounce back in Round 2. Check out his 2024 World Grand Prix Wednesday preview and tips below.

Tuesday Reflections

It was not a good night at the office last night. Luke Woodhouse played really well, but Dimitri van den Bergh found his A game and just about won the match. Fair dues, it happens. Wright and Wade went to script and was the only winner.

Danny Noppert was very disappointing, throwing away the first set, winning the second and then throwing away the third. Banging on at double 20 when he couldn’t hit it, showed that he had no plan B. Missing five in a deciding leg, before finally deciding it was not happening and going for double 14, was disappointing from a professional player. Gerwyn Price was poor, but he was gift wrapped a place in the second round.

MVG Sweating Bullets

MVG didn’t look well to me, sweating profusely, and that combined with a good performance from Daryl Gurney, saw him fail to win a single leg. Chris Dobey flopped again. In great form, in a format he is good at and he goes down 1-2, having won the first set and looking good. I think I have to give up on Dobey in Majors.

We are now into the second round and a best of five set format, which may see things to go a bit more to form. That said, I am remembering that this format has never been a particular favourite of mine.

Nathan Aspinall vs. Ryan Joyce

Joyce was good winner for us in the first round and it will be interesting to see if he can make it two wins. He has been positive about his chances, as he knows this is a format which plays to his strengths. He usually struggles to put runs together in ranked Majors, but he has reached a World Championship quarter final and the semi-final of the Players Championship finals last year. Joyce has won seven of his last ten matches and is playing with a decent degree of consistency.

Their H2H record is 4-2 to Aspinall, only to be expected for the higher ranked player. They have never played on TV before.

Aspinall is back to full fitness, and perhaps his long layoff will pay dividends in this busy part of the year. He is fresh and very keen, as he showed when beating Ryan Searle 2-1 in a quality first round match.

Aspinall Fav

Aspinall is the 1.67 favourite, Joyce 2.38. At least the market is showing Joyce more respect this time round. The odds reflect their H2H record, but there is still some value in Joyce’s odds. However, I do think Aspinall is well wound up for this event, and with some of the favourites dumped out in the first round, he will be sensing the chance to have a good run and mitigate for potential ranking money losses from defending his 2022 runners up prizemoney.

Joyce took Dave Chisnall to a deciding set in his only other appearance in this event back in 2020. I expect that he will put up a good fight tonight. Aspinall has played, and won, two second round matches in the Grand Prix, both requiring a deciding set.

Over the last ten years, under 4.5 sets results have dominated 54 to 26. Over the last four years, or since it left the City West Hotel in Dublin, it has been much closer with seventeen under 4.5 sets, and sixteen over. These two players have only had overs. The gap between the top players and the next level is not so great anymore, and that may explain the closer matches in recent years.

2024 World Grand Prix Wednesday Tip: 1 point over 4.5 sets @ 2.75 with Betfair

Rob Cross vs. Martin Schindler

Rob Cross got a rare first round win the Grand Prix, dumping out the tournament favourite Luke Littler in a 2-1 win. Littler played pretty well, maybe a bit sloppy at times, but Cross did enough to get the win, without doing anything more than being good. He has won seven of his last ten matches, but he has never won a second round Grand Prix match.

Martin Schindler looked very good when beating Brendan Dolan 2-0 in the first round. It was close in the second set, but he was pretty devastating in the first, hitting double 20 time after time. Schindler has won eleven of his last twelve matches, so he will be feeling confident of repeating his second round win here last year, when he beat Stephen Bunting 3-2.

Cross Dominates H2H

Their H2H record is an emphatic 8-3 to Cross and he won their only match in the last two years, 6-5, in ET 4 back in April.

Schindler is a two time Euro Tour winner in 2024, and he is in the ascendancy. Cross will know he has a good record against Schindler, but also that he has never got beyond the second round in this event from his seven previous appearances.

This looks to be a bit of a toss-up. Both players are in good form, Schindler slightly better, and Cross has a dubious tournament record, but has a strong record over Schindler. Rob Cross is the 1.67 favourite, Schindler 2.30. I am tempted by Schindler, but that H2H is a red flag. No bet.

2024 World Grand Prix Wednesday Tip: No Bet

Luke Humphries vs. Riccardo Pietreczko

Humphries looked dead and buried in his first round match against Stephen Bunting. One set and 0-2 down, Humphries managed to turn it round and won six of the next seven legs to win by two sets to one. It was the performance of a champion.

Pietreczko was able to beat Raymond van Barneveld 2-1, but Barney was poor, the only player to average below 80 in the first round.

Humphries has won eight of his last ten matches, Pietreczko five. Humphries is 5-1 vs. Pietreczko but the German very nearly knocked Humphries out of the World Championship, taking the match to a deciding set. Humphries got an easy win in their other TV match at the Matchplay, winning 10-4. Most recently Pietreczko beat Humphries in the semi-final of ET10 last month. Humphries will not be taking this for granted.

Luke Humphries is the 1.14 favourite, Pietreczko 7.00. That is a little dismissive about Ricciardo, but the German was poor on his starting doubles in round one, and if he is so generous again, he could get a thumping.

This is not much of a betting opportunity and hopefully Humphries can move one step closer to the title. No bet.

2024 World Grand Prix Wednesday Tip: No Bet

Jonny Clayton vs. Ross Smith

Smudger put in the best performance of the first round, averaging 101.79 in a 2-0 win over Gian van Veen. That was the ninth highest ever average in the Grand Prix, and Van Veen’s 94.67 was more than respectable. Needless to say, if he can keep that going, he will be hard to stop.

His recent form sees five wins from his last ten and consistency has not been his strong point. It is far from a given that he can do something similar tonight.

Smith has played three previous second round matches and lost all three, two 2-3 and one 1-3. He beat Clayton 2-0 in the first round here last year, and their career H2H record is 6-4 to Clayton. They have played in three TV Majors with Clayton winning two UK Open matches 10-9 and 10-8.

The Ferret beat Ritchie Edhouse 2-0 with a 93.71 average in round 1, and he has won six of his last ten matches and has mostly played well, and quite consistently. Clayton has only ever won one second round match, but he did then go on to win the title. Two of the three matches required a deciding set.

Another close match between the two buddies would be no surprise.

2024 World Grand Prix Wednesday Tip: 1 point over 4.5 sets @ 2.75 with Betfair

-JamesPunt