Thursday Afternoon PDC World Championship Tips – JP
Thursday Afternoon PDC World Championship Preview
It was one of those sessions last night. James Punt was out of luck but he is determined to bounce back this afternoon. His Thursday Afternoon PDC World Championship preview and tips are below.
Krzysztof Ratajski vs. Danny Jansen
The Mullet was far from impressive in his 3-2 first round win over Paolo Nebrida. Both players averaged in the low 80s, Jansen blew a two set lead and the match went to a decider. He has won five of his last ten matches but had seven sub 90 averages. He has played Ratajski twice and it is one win apiece, both matches played early in the season and Jansen was in better form back then.
Ratajski hasn’t had a good season. His win rate is just 56%, his lowest since he won his tour card. It was at least 70% between 2018 and 2020, but it has slipped back in these last two years. He hasn’t made much impression in the majors this season and he is defending quarter final prize money which will add some pressure.
Big Stage Worries
Ratajski is playing in his sixth World Championship, and he has only made the third round twice. 2021 apart, The Polish Eagle has never been as good on stage as he is on the floor and he is opposable, but is Jansen the man to oppose him with? Not with his recent form.
Ratajski is the 1.18 favourite which is very short given his lacklustre form but even at 5.50, Jansen makes no appeal. In fact, the whole match makes no appeal. No bet.
Thursday Afternoon PDC World Championship Tip: No Bet
Ryan Searle vs. Adam Gawlas
Searle is another player to have had a disappointing season. He has won a players championship title, but I think everyone was looking for him to start competing for major titles. He had made the final of the 2021 Players Championship but this season his best effort was a 6th round exit at the UK Open.
Heavy Metal has gone quite well here at Ally Pally, making the 4th round three times in four appearances and he has always reached the third round. His recent form is five wins from ten, but he is scoring very well. He has averaged over 100 across his last five matches but still lost three of them. That has been a recurring theme for Searle this season, and it must be very frustrating.
Poor Scoring
Gawlas beat Ritchie Burnett 3-2 in the first round in a low class affair with both averaging 85. That sort of scoring is going to give Searle a lot of chances to win legs. These two have met three times, all on stage and it is 2-1 to Searle.
Gawlas’ win came on home soil at the Czech Darts Open, so he did have the crowd behind him that day. Gawlas has won six of his last ten matches but had seven sub 90 averages in those ten. Ironic that he has been scoring poorly but has won more than the heavy scoring Searle.
Searle is the 1.23 favourite with Gawlas 4.50. Searle can’t go on hitting ton plus averages and losing and Gawlas can’t keep on winning with sub 90s. Ryan Searle has won all four of his second round matches, two of them 3-0. He must have a reasonable chance to make it three.
Thursday Afternoon PDC World Championship Tip: 0.5 point Ryan Seale to win 3-0 @ 2.70 with Ladbrokes
Mensur Suljovic vs. Mike de Decker
Mensur is another seed who is in danger of an early exit. He has lost six of his last ten matches, his annual win rate is down to a career low 52% and he has only won four second round matches here in fourteen world championship appearances.
He is up against a player who may not be the mentally toughest player there is, but he has been playing some very nice darts lately. De Decker just looks to have his eye in and so long as he can just play his game, not get distracted by Suljovic’s sloth like pace and more importantly, not get ahead of himself, he can win. He has won seven of his last ten matches.
De Decker’s H2H record against Suljovic is 1-5, but at least he won their last match and three of his defeats were in last leg deciders.
Thursday Afternoon PDC World Championship Tip: 1 point Mike de Decker to win @ 1.83 with Ladbrokes
Dirk van Duijvenbode vs. Karel Sedlacek
Karel Sedlacek put in one of the very best first round performances, averaging 97.8 in a 3-0 win against the much fancied Raymond Smith. Evil Charlie didn’t put a foot wrong and won five of his nine legs in 13 darts and only one leg was won with more than 15 darts.
That is a very high standard and hard to beat. The question has to be, can he repeat it? We shall just have to wait and see, but the truth is that he may have to if he is to move into the second round or hope that Dirk has one of his off days.
Dirk In Decent Form
Van Duijvenbode is in decent form, winning six of his last ten matches. His lowest average in those ten was a 93.4 and eight saw 95+. He is one of the heaviest scorers in the game and consistent with it. In his last 50 matches his average has only dropped below 90 twice (and the last time was 43 matches ago). He lost both of those.
He only lost 13 more of those last 50 matches and the players who beat him is a who’s who of top players. Josh Rock x2, Gerwyn Price, Jonny Clayton x2, Nathan Aspinall, Damon Heta x2, Alan Soutar, Michael Smith, Steve Lennon, Joe Cullen and Rob Cross. Only Steve Lennon and Alan Soutar could be called surprise defeats. Dirk averaged 106 against Lennon so that can go down as a completely unpredictable freak result.
Dirk is the 1.22 favourite and Sedlacek 5.00.
It is hard to see a defeat for Dirk, but Sedlacek will land some blows and he may get a set.
