2026 UK Open Sunday Preview

James Punt struggled on Saturday but he’s determined to finish with a flourish. His 2026 UK Open Sunday preview and tips are below.

2026 UK Open R6 Reflections

Saturday was a struggle and after a tiny loss in the morning, the evening session saw -4.00 points, leaving the tournament match betting tally at – 5.68 points. We also lost MVG as an outright selection after he was thrashed 3-10 by James Wade. That leaves us with Luke Littler, now the 1.85 favourite, and Jonny Clayton, now a 12.00 shot.

The quarter final matches are still played in the best of 19 leg format, with the semi-final and final best of 21 legs.

Krzysztof Ratajski vs. Josh Rock

Josh Rock beat Bunting 10-7 last night, but we were on Bunting to win, and he just put in one of his duff performances. He usually keeps them for the quarter or semi-final , but he went early this time.

It wasn’t a great performance by Rock and his tournament average is 94.96, which is 3 points down on his 12-month average. He has lost five of his last ten matches and while he has played some very good darts in his last ten, there have been a few pretty ordinary performances.

Rock has played in six major quarter finals and won two. He has made the quarter final of three of the last four ranking majors and lost all three. One to Littler at the World Masters, to Aspinall in the Players Championship Finals and to Littler again, at the Grand Slam. At least he isn’t playing Littler.

Talented Journeyman

Krzysztof Ratajski has played in six major quarter finals and lost five, the latest to, who else, but Luke Littler, at the World Championship. The Polish Eagle is more of a very good journeyman pro. He has won nine floor events and a couple of Euro tour titles. He peaked as the world number 12 in 2021.

Here he is, in the third major of the year, and he has reached two quarter finals. That is already a very good season for Ratajski. The question is, can he just see this as a bit of a bonus and be relaxed and able to play his game, or get ahead of himself and think about the title etc?

Ratajski has won five of his last ten matches, but he has played quite well in most of them. Just one sub 90 average and eight 95+. His tournament average is 95.28, a little above his 12-month average. He is very steady but lacks the real top end firepower of the likes of Josh Rock.

H2H

Their H2H record is 11-2 to Josh Rock and he has won their last six in a row, going back to 2023. They have played twice in a ranking major. Rock won both, 10-5 in the 2023 Grand Slam and 10-8 in last year’s Players Championship finals. Both matches have been good quality scoring wise. Ratajski was poor on the doubles in 2023, but otherwise, their averages were high 90s for both.

The obvious selection is to go for a reasonably long match. Rock has to be favourite given that H2H record, and the market has him at 1.67 and Ratajski 2.30.

Ratajski played MVG in the 2021 quarter final and he played very well but lost 7-10. Rock beat Nathan Aspinall 10-7 at this stage last year.

2026 UK Open Sunday Tip: 1 point over 16.5 legs @ 1.85 with Boylesports

2026 UK Open Sunday Tip: 0.5 point Josh Rock to win 10-7 @ 8.50 generally available

James Wade vs. Rob Cross

Wade was in absolute top form in his 10-3 win over MVG last night. It was a 105.83 average and he will now be playing in his eighth UK Open quarter final. He has won four of the last seven. Last year it was a 10-9 win over Luke Humphries.

Rob Cross had little bother beating Daryl Gurney 10-6 last night, averaging a full ten points more than the Ulsterman. It was an OK performance, but more than enough. He has played some good stuff so far, best of all his 10-7 win over Gian van Veen in round four.

Cross has played in five UK Open quarter finals and won just one, and that was back in 2019. His last two defeats in QFs here came in 2023 when he lost 8-10 to Adam Gawlas, and in 2024 it was 7-10 to Ricky Evans, two matches he would have been expected to win.

H2H Close

Their H2H record is 13-10 to Wade. They played each other in this event in 2021 and Wade won 10-7. Their last major quarter final match up was in the 2021 Grand Slam quarter final, which Wade won 16-14.

Will Cross come up short again? Wade is the player who has been getting the better results in the majors in the last 12 months with two finals and three more losing quarter finals.

Wade is the 1.80 favourite with Cross 2.30. I have to go with Wade as he is more comfortable in these big matches. Cross is under pressure to turnaround his collapsing world ranking and he knows that an even larger chunk of whatever he wins this weekend, goes to HMRC. Depressing.

2026 UK Open Sunday Tip: 1 point James Wade to win @ 1.80 with SpreadEx

2026 UK Open Sunday Tip: 0.5 point James Wade to win 10-8 @ 8.50 with SpreadEx, Boylesports, Skybet

Luke Littler vs. Danny Noppert

At least Littler is third on this afternoon. He doesn’t play as well in afternoon matches and lost a quarter final to Damon Heta here in 2024, but he made up for that last year with a 10-4 win over Gian van Veen, averaging 107.30. Clearly, he was able to get himself up for that match. Littler has played thirteen major quarter finals and won eleven, including the last seven on the bounce.

Danny Noppert, on the other hand, has played in fifteen major quarter finals and won ten, but he has only won one major semi-final. His H2H record against Luke Littler is 1-4. They have played in two Majors with Littler winning 10-3 in the 2024 Players Championship finals, and 16-9 in last year’s Grand Slam semi-final.

Littler is the 1.22 favourite with Noppert 5.00. As usual with Littler matches, it is hard to find much value. Littler to win -3.5 legs at 1.83 is the closest I can get to. But I am happy to leave this alone and hope Littler progresses.

2026 UK Open Sunday Tip: No Bet

Jonny Clayton vs. Gerwyn Price

There were two players I didn’t want Clayton to draw at this stage. Littler and Price. Bummer.

Clayton did beat Price in the PL a few weeks ago. That was a 6-3 victory but Price was ill that night and played poorly. They met again at the end of last month in the semi-final of PC6, and Price won that 7-4. Overall, their H2H record is 29-12 to Price, but more to the point, he has won 17 of their last 19.

Price will have drained his batteries in his 10-9, back from the dead win over Keane Barry last night. He looked all but beaten at 4-9 down but rallied to win in the deciding leg. A great effort, but draining.

Ferret Must Improve

Clayton played ok to beat Lukeman 10-7, but it was just a 93.69 average and he will have to up his game to live with Price. The Iceman is 3-2 in UK Open quarter finals, but he has lost three of his last six ranking quarter finals overall.

That said, he has won his last three and it seems that semi-finals are his real stumbling blocks. Clayton has won four of his last five major quarter finals, so you never know, but that H2H record is a killer. Price loves playing Clayton.

Price is the 1.62 favourite to win but I will hedge on our outright bet on Clayton, and back Price on the handicap.

2026 UK Open Sunday Tip: 1 point Gerwen Price to win -1.5 legs @ 1.85 with Boylesports, Livescorebet

That is all from me this weekend. Back next week for more Premier League and the European Darts Trophy.

-JamesPunt