Saturday Afternoon Czech Darts Open Preview – JP
Saturday Afternoon Czech Darts Open Preview
James Punt continued in good form on Friday evening. He fired in winners at 1.67, 1.73 and 2.20 and he is looking to cause the bookies more heartache today. Check out his Saturday Afternoon Czech Open Darts tips below.
Krzysztof Ratajski vs. Ricky Evans
Ratajski is generally playing well, he reached the quarter final of PC14 on Tuesday, but failing to have many deep runs and the tournament wins have dried up. He has won five of his last ten matches and while he is still playing some great matches, hitting big averages, there are an equal number of ordinary performances. His confidence is not what it could be.
Rapid Ricky’s confidence is growing, he is winning more matches and showing a positive attitude. He has won six of his last ten matches and beat the exciting young talent, Josh Rock, 6-4 in yesterday’s first round. It was a solid 95 average with 60% on the doubles, a positive sign as this has been a problem area for a while.
It is fair to say that Ratajski has the bigger guns, but they are not always on display and if Evans can get a foot in the door and put some pressure on The Polish Eagle, he has a decent chance. Their H2H record is limited with just three previous meetings, Ratajski winning two, but there have been no recent matches.
Ratajski is the 1.57 favourite, Evans 2.50 and there is enough value in the outsider here.
Saturday Afternoon Czech Open Darts tips: 1 point Ricky Evans to win @ 2.50 generally available
Brendan Dolan vs. Micky Mansell
An all Northern Irish match between two old pals. Dolan is the senior partner here, the more successful player, but he is not in good form, losing seven of his last ten matches. On the Euro Tour this year he has played five and lost four. Half of his last ten matches has seen checkout rates of 33% or under and he lost all five.
Mansell is a rare visitor to the Euro Tour, and it was a very big deal for him to beat Jeffery de Zwaan and he did it well, averaging 97, but with De Zwaan only averaging 88, he maybe should have done better than 6-4. He would have been feeling the pressure of achieving an important win, so we can forgive that.
Dolan Dominates H2H
Their H2H record is 7-2 to Dolan. Mansell hasn’t beaten his fellow countryman since 2013 and there must be something of an inferiority complex here. Mansell had to go back to Q school to get his car back in January and it’s fair to say he understands that his future is precarious and he needs to win money in the next year and a half if he is to stay on the tour.
He has qualified for this and the next three Euro Tour events and these are very important opportunities for him to pick up much need prizemoney. His form is better than Dolan’s, winning six of his last ten but he is very hard to predict. At his best he hits a ton plus, in about one matches in five over the last few months, but he is much more likely to average under 90.
My head says that Mansell will expect to lose. If he sees Dolan as the better player, that is only natural. He needs to focus on ranking money and want it more than Dolan. He has a good chance on form, but will he allow himself to take the opportunity?
Dolan is the 1.40 favourite, and Mansell 3.00. Mansell may never have a better chance to get one over his mate and the odds are just good enough to back him.
Saturday Afternoon Czech Open Darts tips: 1 point Mickey Mansell to win @ 3.00 with Boylesports
Luke Humphries vs. Martin Lukeman
Two players who are loving life on the Euro Tour. Humphries won ET3 a month ago, Lukeman was runner up to Humphries in the same event, going down 8-2. Cool Hand is number 2 in the Euro Tour OOM, Lukeman 7th and the prize money is likely to propel him into major finals and secure his playing rights for next year.
Humphries is the better player and has won seven of his last ten matches with a seasonal average of 95.75. He has won two titles in 2022 and is now realising his potential. Lukeman has come out of nowhere but has earned his rewards with some very good performances.
Puncher’s Chance
He is averaging 91.9 in 2022 with a win rate of 65%, so while he may not be at Humphries level, he is confident and in a best of eleven format, has a puncher’s chance, and he does pack a good punch. Smash beat a local qualifier 6-1 yesterday and averaged 98, which is a very good warm up for this.
Their H2H record is 2-0 to Humphries, both easy wins and he is the 1.33 favourite. He deserves favouritism but Lukeman is in fine fettle and should be able to at least make Humphries work hard for his win. When they met in the final last month, it was a huge deal for Lukeman and came at the end of a long day of stage matches. It was all very new for him, but he is used to the Euro Tour swing now, loving it and he’ll be fresher for this one.
Saturday Afternoon Czech Open Darts tips: 1 point Lukeman to win +2.5 legs @ 1.80 with Betfred
Rob Cross vs. Jules van Dongen
Van Dongen picked up his first Euro Tour win against Brett Claydon yesterday, but it was a very poor match, with Claydon only managing a 75.5 average. He has won four of his last ten matches and his best efforts are good, he hit a ton when losing 4-6 to Michael Smith in PC12 and 98 when beating Nathan Rafferty in a Euro tour qualifier for this event. However, his seasonal average is 87.4 and half of his last ten matches have seen sub 90’s.
These two have met once, just last month and Cross won 6-2. The former world champion is averaging 96.9 in 2022, with a 68% win rate. He has lost five of his last ten but was playing well in the mid-week, hitting three ton plus averages in PC15, losing to Callan Rydz at the last 16 stage.
This should be a fairly comfortable win for Cross, and I’ll have a small bet on a repeat of his recent 6-2 win.
Saturday Afternoon Czech Open Darts tips: 0.5 point Cross to win 6-2 @ 4.60 with Betfred
Dimitri van den Bergh vs. Nathan Aspinall
Aspinall beat John Henderson 6-1 yesterday, despite not being in top gear against his pal. It was a decent performance and his sixth win from ten. Afterwards he pointed out his terrible record against Van den Bergh, which is 9-0.
The Asp has won six of his last ten matches and is in better form that Van den Bergh who has lost six of his last ten. Both players are averaging 96.4 in 2022 and Aspinall has a decent chance of getting his first win, so long as he actually believes he can.
Van den Bergh is the 1.80 favourite, Aspinall 2.20 but we have backed The Asp anti post, so he needs to get over the Belgian for once. No Bet.
Saturday Afternoon Czech Open Darts tips: No Bet
Jose de Sousa vs. Martijn Kleermaker
Kleermaker beat young Bialecki 6-4 in a workman like performance, nothing more. He has won six of his last ten and playing reasonably well.
De Sousa has lost six of his last ten matches and continues to struggle. He has lost four of his five opening Euro Tour matches this year and he is lacking confidence. He remains opposable, especially as the market still makes him the strong favourite. He has lost to Razma twice, Harman and Huybrechts and Kleermaker is very much in that sort of bracket.
Saturday Afternoon Czech Open Darts tips: 1 point Martijn Kleermaker to win @ 3.00 with Ladbrokes
Dave Chisnall vs. Daryl Gurney
Chisnall swatted a local qualifier aside with a 6-0 win yesterday, just as he should have done. He has won eight of his last ten matches and is one of the form players coming into the tournament. He reached the quarter final of PC14 on Tuesday and that is Chizzy, very good until he sees the winning line.
Daryl Gurney hasn’t been in great form and took some time off before last week’s tournament but lost 3-6 to a rampant MVG in the second round. He has won six of his last ten matches and is lacking consistency.
Their H2H record is 8-8 and Superchin won their last two. The good news for Daryl is that this not being played in Milton Keynes. They have met three times at the Masters in MK and Chizzy has won all three by small margins.
Chisnall is the 1.72 favourite and Gurney 2.25. Chizzy is in better form and as he is some way from the finish line, he should be OK here. There isn’t much value here and I’ll sit this out.
Saturday Afternoon Czech Open Darts tips: No Bet
Michael Smith vs. Rowby-John Rodriguez
Bully Boy went back-to-back midweek, winning PC14 & 15. He beat Jonny Clayton 6-5 in the PL on Thursday, after Clayton missed match darts, before losing to MVG 5-6. He has won 14 of his last 15 and should be too good for Rodriguez.
The H2H record is 5-1 to Smith and Rodriguez last won in 2014. Rowby-John beat Scott Waites 6-2 with a 99 average. He does have a very strong A game but lacks consistency. He has won six of his last ten matches, but win or lose, there have been very few close ones. In those last ten matches, just one went over 9 legs.
