Saturday Night Austrian Darts Open Preview – JP
Saturday Night Austrian Darts Open Tips
It was a profitable afternoon for James Punt’s loyal disciples in Austria. He fired in three winners from three tips, a full house. He’s hoping to cause the bookies more heartache this evening, check out James’ Saturday Night Austrian Darts Open preview is below.
Danny Noppert vs. Chris Dobey
The Euro Tour seems to be stuck on repeat for Noppert. He has played Liam Maendl-Lawrence twice, Dirk van Duijvenbode twice, Damon Heta twice, this will be his second time playing Chris Dobey and he has only played ten matches.
His last match with Dobey was in ET 2 and Noppert won that 6-2. Overall, their H2H record is 3-2 to Noppert with Dobey’s last win coming in 2021. Four of their five matches have required 10 legs or more, which is not a surprise given that they are similar players in terms of their vital stats.
Dobey has won six of his last ten matches and is playing well, with four ton plus averages, including a 100.9 in his 6-3 win over Vitezslav Sedlak last night. Dobey only averaged 80 in his 2-6 defeat by Noppert last month, his worst performance of the year, so I think we can rule that out as a guide.
Dobey is the 1.80 favourite with Noppert 2.10. That looks right to me but I expect another close match so long as both play to their recent form.
Saturday Night Austrian Darts Open Tip: 1 point over 9.5 legs @ 1.91 with Ladbrokes, Boylesports
Dirk van Duijvenbode vs. Ryan Meikle
The Barber had a 6-3 win over a very out of form Rowby-John Rodriguez. Meikle averaged 92.4, round about his seasonal average and he has lost six of his last ten matches. He does have a good A game, but we have seen more of his B game lately and he isn’t in great form.
Dirk is second only to Gerwyn Price in terms of form in my book. He has a win rate of 80% in 2023 and has won three Players Championship events. He missed darts to beat Price in the final of ET2 and that still rankles with him. The Aubergenius wants a Euro Tour title badly. He has won nine of his last ten matches and he should be too good for Meikle.
Van Duijvenbode is the 1.28 favourite and as we have backed him outright, there is no point playing here.
Saturday Night Austrian Darts Open Tip: No Bet
Ryan Searle vs. Raymond van Barneveld
Barney beat Brendan Dolan 6-3 last night in a very poor match. Barney only averaged 88 and he let Dolan back into the match having been 5-0 up and Dolan missed darts to make it 4-5 and land our overs bet. RVB has won seven of his last ten matches but he is hard to get a firm grip of. In his last ten he has hit three ton plus averages but four sub 90s.
Searle is well rested, having missed the last two Euro Tour events, and he skipped Players Championships 7 & 8. He re-emerged last weekend and won three of his five matches, but his last three saw sub 90 averages.
Searle has a 4-1 H2H record with Barney. He has won the last four in a row and the last two very comfortably, 6-1 and 6-2, both back in 2021. There is little between them stats wise and I would expect a closer match, but without seeing much of Searle in recent weeks, it is hard to say where his game is and for that reason I will pass on this match.
Saturday Night Austrian Darts Open Tip: No Bet
Peter Wright vs. Mensur Suljovic
The Gentle beat Ricky Evans 6-4 last night and he would have been glad to have a big crowd supporting him as his game wasn’t great, averaging just 88. His seasonal average is just 89.4, so that performance was par for the course.
Peter Wright remains in poor form, but not as bad as it has been at times this season. He has won five of his last ten and while he is playing the bulk of his matches at Premier League level, at Euro Tour level he has played seven and lost four. He is very hard to call, but is generally a player to oppose right now, but can we oppose him with a fading Suljovic?
Their H2H record is 13-12 to Suljovic but Wright won their only match this year, 6-4. Wright is the 1.36 favourite, Suljovic 3.50. You can’t back Wright with stolen money these days and much the same can be said about Suljovic.
Saturday Night Austrian Darts Open Tip: No Bet
Luke Humphries vs. Daryl Gurney
Superchin won his second Euro Tour match of 2023 last night, beating Stephen Bunting 6-3. A welcome win but not a performance that would get him very far against Humphries.
These two played in ET1 in Kiel, a second round match which Humphries won 6-1. They played again a couple of weeks later and Humphries won that 6-2. Overall, their record is 4-4 but Humphries has won four of their last five meetings.
Humphries has won seven of his last ten matches and while he had to miss two events, on the Euro Tour he has played eight and won six. He has become a very consistent player and is playing at a very high level.
Humphries is the 1.44 favourite with Gurney 3.00.
Saturday Night Austrian Darts Open Tip: 1 point Luke Humphries to win -1.5 legs @ 1.76 with Unibet
Michael Smith vs. Ricardo Pietreczko
The German featherweight picked up another Euro Tour win yesterday, beating Cameron Menzies 6-4 with a 95 average. That is four wins from five matches on the Euro Tour this year, after he reached the quarter final of ET2.
Pietreczko is not the finished article yet, but he can hit big scores and great combination finishes. He has also reached a Players Championship semi-final last month and he has taken some big scalps. He hasn’t faced this particular Smith yet but he has two wins over Ross Smith and he has beaten Peter Wright and Jonny Clayton this season, so Smith will need to be sharp from the start.
Smith won the German Darts Grand Prix two weeks ago and has won seven of his last ten matches. He isn’t playing quite as well as he was late last year but he has the added confidence of being World Champion and World Number 1.
Smith is the 1.25 favourite with Pietreczko 4.00. Smith should have enough to win, but Pietreczko is enjoying himself and is certainly good enough to cause Smith problems.
Saturday Night Austrian Darts Open Tip: 1 point Pietreczko to win +2.5 legs @ 1.91 with Ladbrokes
Michael van Gerwen vs. John Henderson
Hendo beat Dylan Slevin 6-4 yesterday. It was a decent display, averaging 96.2. He has played some good stuff on the challenge tour and picked up his first PDC singles title last month. He isn’t in MVG’s class of course and he has only beaten the Dutchman once in 14 matches with one draw in the PL. They have not played since 2021 when MVG won their three matches 6-1, 4-1 and 5-1.
Van Gerwen is not in great form, losing four of his last six matches, but he had been losing with ton plus averages and a 98, until Thursday night when he averaged just 91.2 in a 5-6 to Aspinall. He is generally playing very well but he isn’t the winning machine he once was. His performance against Aspinall was poor, however.
MVG is the 1.17 favourite with Henderson 5.80. It is going to be a full house tonight in one of the hottest venues on the Euro Tour and that is not ideal conditions for Henderson.
Saturday Night Austrian Darts Open Tip: 0.5 point MVG to win 6-1 @ 5.50 with Ladbrokes
Martin Schindler vs. Simon Whitlock
Martin Schindler played well in the Players Championship events last weekend, winning eight of his ten matches. On the Euro Tour he has played nine and won five. He doesn’t have the home crowd advantage this weekend but that may be a help rather than a hinderance.
The Wizard beat Kim Huybrechts 6-4 last night. It was only an 87 average but it was his fifth win in a row which will give him some confidence after a run of five straight defeats. Half of his last ten have seen sub 90 averages and only two have been over 94. He has been involved in a lot of deciding legs lately, seven of his last fourteen ended 6-5, and ten required 10 or more legs.
Both players are good on the maximums and last weekend Schindler hit 39 at a rate of 0.43 and in his last ten, Whitlock has been hitting them at 0.30 per leg. With Whitlock’s long match tendency there should be plenty of legs for both players to rack up plenty of maximums.
