Friday 2021 UK Open Match Tips

Our darts expert James Punt has already written an in-depth preview of the 2021 UK Open. You can check it out here. He has also found a few Friday 2021 UK Open bets that are worth checking out. Find out who he likes below and don’t forget to download the TXAPP to ensure you don’t miss out on any late updates.

MAIN STAGE FRIDAY 2021 UK OPEN TELEVISED TIPS

Barry van Peer vs. Martin Schindler

Schindler regained his tour card at the European Q school, having lost it at the end of last year. He is still very young (24) but very experienced. This will be his fourth UK open and he has reached the fifth round in the last two years. He was playing some spectacular darts at Q School and averaged 123 in one match! ‘The Wall’ played at the recent Super Series where he won four matches and averaged 93.2.

Van Peer is another young player but one who has suffered with Dartitis. He played in this last year and won his first round match before losing 6-1 to Ted Evetts. Van Peer averaged 78.5 across those two matches. He won two of his six matches at the Super Series, averaging 87.1. He did take Peter Wright to a deciding leg in the third round of PC3, but it was a very poor standard with both players averaging in the mid 80’s.

Schindler had a poor 2020 season but seems to have rediscovered some sort of form and he should be too good for Van Peer.

Friday 2021 UK Open: 1 point Schindler to win -2.5 legs @ 2.00 generally available

Brett Claydon vs. Danny Baggish

Danny ‘The Gambler’ Baggish made a bit of a reputation for himself by beating Adrian Lewis in the World Championship to reach the third. More impressive was probably his beating of Damon Heta in the first round. He then went on to Q school, leaving to the very last day of the first stage to get through to the second phase, where once again, he came through by reaching the final on the very last day to win his tour card. Baggish only won one match at the Super Series and averaged 91.6.

Claydon also played at the Super Series, also won one match and averaged 89.2. His one win came against Aaron Beeney, more about him below, but he only averaged 71 against Claydon.

Baggish likes the limelight and will relish a return to a big stage. Claydon is a player on the fringes of the professional game and never won a match at the UK Open in three previous visits.

Friday 2021 UK Open: 1 point Baggish to win -1.5 legs @ 2.05 with Ladbrokes

Aaron Beeney vs. Lisa Ashton

Beeney won his tour card last year and was propping up the averages table at many events. He is not a proper professional player and works as a Prison Officer. His biggest win came in last week’s Super Series when he beat World Champion and World number 1, Gerwyn Price. Much like Van Peer taking Wright to a deciding leg, Beeney caught Price on a bad day. The Welshman was ill and lost 5-6 to Beeney who averaged 87.9.

Across all the Players Championship events in 2020, Beeney averaged 81.37. Lisa Ashton also won her tour card last year and she averaged 87.77 across her Players Championship matches. Ashton isn’t likely to retain her card this year, but she is a better player than Beeney and for once, is the favourite to win a match versus a male player. You can get 1.80 with some of the Casino bookies but I will boost the odds and back Ashton giving up a 1.5 leg handicap.

Friday 2021 UK Open: 1 point Lisa Ashton to win -1.50 legs @ 2.20 with Unibet, Paddy Power, Betfair

Raymond van Barneveld vs. Alan Soutar

Two players who won a tour card at Q school this year. One of them is a five-time World Champion and a two-time UK open winner, the other a 43 year old Scottish firefighter. That suggests a bit of a mismatch but that would be a mistake. Soutar has played amateur darts at a high level for years and is the captain of Scotland’s national team. He made a bit of a name for himself at the Super Series, taking a few big name scalps like Adrian Lewis and Dave Chisnall on day 1, only losing to Jonny Clayton in the third round. He won nine of his thirteen matches and averaged 96.

Barney decided that retirement wasn’t for him and made his comeback at Q school, winning his card comfortably. He backed that up by winning PC3 at the Super Series. Barney won eight of his twelve matches and averaged 96.5 at the Super Series.

RVB Has Mojo Back

Clearly Raymond van Barneveld has his mojo back and he looked fit and was throwing well in the Super Series. Soutar looked at ease playing the big names and won plenty of matches and reached the quarter-final of PC3, losing 2-6 to Van Barneveld.

Raymond van Barneveld has a lifetime of experience of playing on TV, on the big stage, Soutar does not. There will be no crowd which helps to level the playing field, but surely Van Barneveld has a big advantage in terms of experience and Soutar might find this experience more of a test that playing on a streamed board.

Soutar proved he has the game to give the top players more than something to think about, but Barney has that very recent title under his belt, a vast amount of big stage experience, and that 6-2 win over Souter last week. The Dutchman is the 1.66 favourite with Soutar the 2.30 outsider. Those odds look to be fair and both players will be backed. I will have a small bet of that 6-2 score line to be repeated. The winner will be back on the same stage to play, and probably beat, Mickey Mansell later in the evening session.

Friday 2021 UK Open: 0.5 point Van Barneveld to win 6-2 @ 9.00 with Unibet

Max Hopp vs. William O’Connor

Both these players had a run out at the Super Series, and both played to a remarkably similar level. Both averaged 93.2, Hopp played eight and won four, while O’Connor played seven and won three. Both players are very close the world rankings with O’Connor 35th and Hopp 39th. Both are good professionals, have won titles but neither has ever really kicked on after quite long careers in the PDC. A close match would not be a big surprise. O’Connor is the 1.80 favourite but the money has been coming for Max Hopp who can be backed at 2.10.

Der Maximiser was living up to his nickname at last week’s Super Series, hitting 180’s at 0.338 per leg which compared favourably to O’Connor’s 0.215.

Friday 2021 UK Open: 1 point Max Hopp to have the most 180’s @ 1.95 with William Hill

Other Friday 2021 UK OPen matches not on the Main Stage

Chas Barstow vs. Lukas Wenig

Barstow only just missed out on winning his tour card at Q school. Danny Baggish’s last gasp effort squeezed him out of the card winning positions, despite him being one of the best players in terms of performance. Barstow averaged 91.7 across his nineteen matches, the seventh highest average from the 600 odd players taking part. Wenig was also one of the top players and he also narrowly lost out. His average of 90.6 was the eleventh highest average across the two Q schools.

Barstow got a called up to play in the recent Super Series thanks to a few players pulling out. He acquitted himself well winning five matches and £2500 in prize money, enough to qualify him for this tournament as he is now 101st on the OOM. He actually qualified as he was one of the new category of players to qualify through the Q school ranking, along with Wenig.

Barstow has played plenty of competitive matches in a short space of time and won a lot of them . He will have been very disappointed to have just missed out on his tour card, but he has the chance to win a couple of matches and get a bit more cash and hopefully pick more chances to play in the remaining Super Series events coming up.

I had a small flutter on Barstow to win a tour card at the recent Q school and followed all his matches on Dartconnect and he played some good stuff and showed good bottle at times.

Friday 2021 UK Open: 1 point Chas Barstow to win @ 1.70 with Unibet

Geert de Vos vs. Niels Zonneveld

De Vos is another BDO refugee who picked up a tour card at the European Q school last month. He enjoyed some success in the BDO, winning the World Trophy in 2015 and more recently reached the quarter final of the BDO World Championship in 2017. He made his PDC debut at last week’s Super Series. It didn’t go well, he won just one match and averaged 92.8. He did better than Zonneveld, however.

Zonneveld won his tour card in 2019 but he hasn’t made much of an impression. We last saw him at the World Championship losing 0-3 to William O’Conner in the first round. He tanked at the Super Series last week, losing all four first round matches and averaging 88.2. There isn’t a lot between them but coming into a big event on the back of four straight defeats isn’t ideal for Zonneveld, while De Vos will still be fresh from winning that all important tour card.

Friday 2021 UK Open: 1 point Geert de Voss to win @ 2.00 with SpreadEx, William Hill, Ladbrokes

Karel Sedlacek vs. Harold Leitinger

Leitinger had a mare at the Super series, losing all four first round matches, averaging 80 and winning just 30% of legs played. Sedlacek is an improving player, getting more experience of playing in the bigger events and while he didn’t have a good Super series he was averaging 91.3 but just found his opponents playing good stuff. He lost to Kirk Shepard who averaged 100, Ryan Searle averaging 97 and Ian White averaging 98.

Sedlacek is the better player and this is a good chance to get a welcome win under his belt and hope for a good draw in the next round.

Friday 2021 UK Open: 1 point Sedlacek to win -2.5 legs @ 2.00 with Unibet

Steffan Siepmann vs. David Evans

I was expecting good things from Evans this season, his first as tour card holder. His first outing in the players championship matches ended badly, very badly. At last week’s Super Series he lost all four matches and averaged 78.6, the lowest of any player there and won just 4 legs. Siepmann didn’t set the world on fire but he did win three matches and averaged 88. It is hard to see why Evans is favourite given his most recent form.

Friday 2021 UK Open: 1 point Steffan Siepmann to win @ 2.10 with SpreadEx

Scott Waites vs. Steve Brown

Brown was another player who had a winless Super Series, averaging 82.8 while two time BDO World Champion Scott Waites won three matches, averaging 93.9. This is likely to be Brown’s last year on tour and he is more involved with running the youth side of the PDC empire these days. Waites played some good stuff last week and if he has an on day, he could give Brown a bit of a thrashing.

Friday 2021 UK Open: 2 Points Scott Waites to win -2.5 legs @ 1.91 with William Hill

Keep an eye out on some updates on the TX App has there may be some last minute updates with so many matches due to be played on Friday.

-James Punt