World Grand Prix Wednesday Darts Tips

After a tough night on Monday normal order was resumed on Tuesday. James Punt landed two winners at 2.50 and 1.60 from three tips, ensuring a nice little profit for the evening. Let’s hope for more of the same tonight. Check out James Punt’s World Grand Prix Wednesday darts tips below.  

Darius Labanauskas vs. Ian White

A repeat of their 2019 World Championship match, which Labanauskas won 3-1. We are at the best of five leg stage and another 3-1 score line is possible.

Labanauskas was very resilient against Brendan Dolan in the first round. Dolan was the better player, but Lucky D did what he does, hangs in and takes his chances if and when they arise. He stole the first set after being 0-2 down, lost the second 0-3 but won the deciding set 3-0. There was some good stuff there, but it may have been his 156 checkout to square the first set 2-2, which was the key to winning the match.

Ian White averaged 78 in his 2-1 win over Gary Anderson, the third lowest winning average across the sixteen first round matches. He was lucky that he was facing an out of form Anderson. It was a performance well shy of his form when reaching the semi-final of PC 21 in August. White has won seven of his last ten matches but like many players, there has been long periods of inactivity and that ‘recent form’ is in fact quite old. However, it looks like he is the player who needs to improve on his first-round performance. White has played four second round Grand Prix matches and won two.

Big Match For White

This is a big match for White as he is sitting 17th on the OOM and needs to reach the semi-final to move above Daryl Gurney and into the top 16.

Ian White is the 1.67 favourite to win, Labanauskas 2.30. White is the heavier scorer and deserves to be favourite but 1.67 is a little short. I’d want a bit more to be getting involved with Lucky D.

There is one area of their games which are poles apart. Ian White is one of the bigger 180 hitters, ranked 11th for 180’s hit and 20th for 180’s per leg over the last two years. Labanauskas is ranked 59th for 180’s hit and 131st for 180’s per leg. In 34% of his last 50 ranking matches, Labanauskas has failed to hit a single maximum.  In this longer format White should be able to hit the most maximums, win or lose.

World Grand Prix Wednesday Tips: 2 points Ian White to hit the most 180’s @ 1.67 with Paddy Power

Rob Cross vs. Krzysztof Ratajski

It is 5-5 in the H2H stats with the Polish Eagle winning the last three. Rob Cross has won five of his last ten matches and you have to go back to PC21 in early August to find the last time he won two matches in a row. That is a worrying level of inconsistency. Ironically that run of four wins was brought to an end by Ratajski who beat Cross 6-3 in the quarter final.

Ratajski has only won four of his last ten matches and with further irony, after beating Rob Cross in that quarter final, Ratajski lost his next five matches in a row. He won a couple of euro tour matches in Gibraltar but not with much style and his win over Aspinall last night was a surprise. It was a close match until Aspinall went AWOL on the doubles in the deciding set. Ratajski averaged 95, a good standard in the double in format.

This a tricky one. Ratajski’s recent form has been poor, but he impressed against Aspinall. He has a decent record against Rob Cross, winning their last three and their recent players championship quarter final. Rob Cross’ inability to string two wins together makes him hard to back. Neither player has a good tournament record, and this really could go either way. No Bet.

Danny Noppert vs. Vincent van der Voort

An all Dutch affair, but maybe not the expected one. Danny Noppert, one of the heaviest scorers in the game right now, beat Michael van Gerwen 2-0. It was a match with an edge as during the break, Noppert accused MVG of trying to put him off, or cheating to put it another way. Whatever it was, it made Noppert more determined to win, and he showed some much needed aggression. His scoring has been very good for a while, but he wasn’t getting the results he should have and perhaps a bit of aggression is what he needs.

Vincent van der Voort was clearly delighted with his 2-0 win over Gabriel Clemens. It was an OK performance against an out of form Clemens, but nothing to suggest he can do much more. The H2H record is 1-1, both matches played last year and both close affairs with 6-4 and 6-5 score lines.

Van der Voort has won six of his last ten matches, Noppert five. The big difference between the two is scoring. Noppert is averaging 98 in the last three months, while Vincent is more of a low 90’s man. Danny Noppert might have to be a bit hotter on his starting doubles but once he is in, his scoring should be enough to get him through.

Noppert is the 1.73 favourite, Van der Voort 2.30. I can’t argue with those odds. No bet.

Jose de Sousa vs. Jonny Clayton

De Sousa got the expected 2-0 win over Glen Durrant. Duzza averaged 58 and won just one leg. The Special One only averaged 78 but he wasn’t really trying, and we can’t read too much into that match. De Sousa has won five of his last ten matches, but he has been playing some way off his usual level.

Jonny Clayton has also won five of his last ten, but he looks to be getting back to his best form. He averaged 95 in his 2-0 win over Callan Rydz. The Riot was disappointing, but Clayton was very good and would have been very hard to beat even if Rydz had his A game on show. He checked out at 60% and when he is hitting his doubles, he is winning.

Their H2H record is 7-3 to The Ferret and 6-2 in 2021 and 4-1 on TV.

The bookmakers were in disagreement about who should be favourite, which surprised me. The tournament sponsors had made De Sousa the 1.83 favourite and Clayton 1.95. Some had them as joint favourites and others had Clayton as favourite. The odds have changed overnight and Clayton is now a best priced 1.80

Given the abundance of recent H2H form which is very positive for Clayton and the level of De Sousa’s recent form, which is below his seasonal average, I have to make Clayton the favourite, a clear favourite.

World Grand Prix Wednesday Tip: 2 points Jonny Clayton to win @ 1.80 with SpreadEx, Ladbrokes, Skybet

-JamesPunt