2025 World Masters Sunday Afternoon Preview

James Punt roared back to form with two winners from two bets on Saturday night. Hopefully we have turned the corner now. Check out his 2025 World Masters Sunday Afternoon preview and tips below.

Luke Humphries vs. Damon Heta

Humphries made short work of Josh Rock yesterday, winning 4-0. It was nothing special scoring wise, but he checked out at 67% and that seems to be the most important thing in this format. Take your chances and take them quickly.

Humphries hit four winning legs of 15 or under, and four of 16 or above, again, nothing special, but he was hitting the doubles, Rock missed eight from ten, game over.

Damon Heta beat Gerwyn Price by the finest of margins, surviving a match dart against him, before finally getting over the line. Price was the better at scoring, hitting six 180s to Heta’s nil, but once again, his doubling cost him the match.

He missed seventeen doubles and that let Heta have more chances than he should have had. Heta hit five winning legs of seventeen darts or more and that is not great. He will likely need to play better today.

Heta does get tight at the business end and lost no less than ten quarter finals in 2024, while Humphries is a proven winner. Their H2H record is 7-1 to Humphries and on TV, 5-0.

Luke Humphries is the 1.44 favourite, Heta 3.10. Humphries has not been at his best so far, so there is room for improvement. Heta is used to losing quarter finals and has a pretty dire record against Humphries.

2025 World Masters Sunday Afternoon Tip: 1 point Luke Humphries to win -1.5 sets @ 1.85 with Fitzdares

Danny Noppert vs. Stephen Bunting

Stephen Bunting is playing in his fourth successive quarter final, and he won the last three, something that would not have happed a year ago. He is getting used to regularly being at the sharp end of things and he is much more comfortable than he used to be.

Bunting beat Peter Wright 4-2 yesterday, but it is fair to say that Wright let him off the hook at times, missing crucial doubles that cost him at least one set. It was an OK performance by Bunting, but one that may not have been good enough against a better player than Wright was yesterday.

Easy Win

Danny Noppert was very Danny Noppert when beating a very disappointing William O’Connor. Some players give up very easily and O’Connor is one of them. Not only does he give up, but he lets his opponents know that he has given up. He would make a rubbish poker player. It meant that Noppert could just play his game without feeling any real pressure. It was cruise and collect and a 4-1 win.

A 96.27 average, four 180s and 44% on the doubles. Standard Noppert. Four of his winning legs were 15 or under, four over, but three were in sixteen darts, so it was a very solid performance and he should be a tough nut to crack.

Noppert doesn’t get to as many big quarter finals as Bunting has done, but he did win a European Championship quarter final last October. If anything, his sticking point is in semi-finals, losing five major semi-finals, but winning six of his ten quarter finals.

Even Steven

Their H2H record is 5-5. They have met here before, Noppert beating Bunting 10-9 in 2023, under the old format. Bunting has won their last three matches, including two in 2024. On TV it is 2-1 to Noppert.

This has the feel of a close match. Bunting is the 1.54 favourite, which looks a bit short to me, and Noppert is 2.63. Bunting will be the more confident player and should be favourite, but there has been nothing between them this weekend.

2025 World Masters Sunday Afternoon Tip: 2 points over 5.5 sets @ 1.67 with BET365, Betfair, Fitzdares

2025 World Masters Sunday Afternoon Tip: 0.5 point Danny Noppert to win 4-3 @ 7.50 with Livescorebet

Luke Littler vs. Jonny Clayton

Jonny Clayton did have that poor performance following a great one, but he was still just able to beat Ryan Searle 4-3. It was pretty ropey match at times with a lot of missed doubles from both players (37 between them).

Littler dismantled James Wade, winning 4-0 and averaging 105.47. That was a good response to Wade’s comments that Littler was no Phil Taylor, or MVG. A big slice of humble pie. That is the kind of performance that we have come to expect from him and usually get.

Obviously, Clayton needs his A game to trouble Littler, the kind of performance he showed when beating Martin Schindler in the first round. That was a personal best on TV, and it is a bit much to expect him to be able to repeat that, but he needs a big ton plus performance to compete.

Their H2H record extends to just the one match, a Players Championship floor match, which littler won 6-1.

Littler is the 1.17 favourite, Clayton 6.00. If you think that Clayton can find his first round form, the 6.00 is a decent price, but it has been a while since The Ferret could do that sort of thing on a regular basis. No bet.

2025 World Masters Sunday Afternoon Tip: No Bet

Dimitri van den Bergh vs. Nathan Aspinall

Van den Bergh has kept his good stuff for the TV cameras again. He beat MVG 4-3 last night. It was a good quality match that the old MVG would have won. He averaged 98.63 to Van den Bergh’s 97.70. MVG was better on the doubles, 41% to 34.5%, but he still lost. Van den Bergh even hit a nine dart leg and kept his shit together afterwards.

Nathan Aspinall had little trouble beating Cameron Menzies 4-1. His toughest challenge was getting the big pest off him after the game. There can be little worse than getting snogged by a sweaty Ayrshire plumber.

Aspinall only averaged 90.84 and it was just one of those low quality matches were Aspinall was just taking the win and not having to engage second gear. He only had two legs in fifteen darts or under, and clearly that will not do, but he didn’t have to anything more and he is capable of much better, as he did in round one, with a 103 average.

H2H

Their H2H record is 10-7 to Van den Bergh, and on TV 7-4 to Dimitri. Aspinall did win their last three matches, all in the Premier League last year.

Aspinall is the 1.91 favourite, Van den Bergh 2.00. Fair enough, but on TV I’d be tempted to flip the odds, but it is hard to separate the two.

2025 World Masters Sunday Afternoon Tip: 1 point over 5.5 sets @ 1.67 with Betfred

That is all from me this weekend. I’m off to lick my wounds and prepare for the start of the Premier League next week.

-JamesPunt