Sporting Life
Gerwyn Price and Michael Smith (Picture: Lawrence Lustig, PDC)
Gerwyn Price and Michael Smith (Picture: Lawrence Lustig, PDC)

PDC World Darts Championship: Day 14 quarter-final predictions, betting tips, acca, order of play and TV time

By Carl Fletcher
Darts
Sat January 01, 2022 · 4y ago

The PDC World Darts Championship quarter-finals take place on New Year's Day so here's Carl Fletcher's match-by-match predictions, best bets and a suggested acca.

All eight remaining players are in action today over two sessions as the tournament edges towards its conclusion. Gerwyn Price, Peter Wright, Gary Anderson and James Wade are favourites to progress but will there be any more surprises?

Darts betting tips: World Championship day 14

2pts Peter Wright to hit the most 180s at 4/6 (Sky Bet)

1pt Gerwyn Price 3 or more 100+ checkouts at 5/4 (Sky Bet)

1pt Luke Humphries to win at 5/4 (Sky Bet)

Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook

SL Acca: Humphries, Wright & Smith to hit the most 180s at 4/1 with Sky Bet

Saturday January 1: Evening session

  • TV Coverage: Sky Sports (1900 GMT)
  • Quarter-finals: Best of nine sets

Peter Wright (4/9) v Callan Rydz (7/4)

  • Overall Head-to-Head: 4-1 (TV: 1-0)
    2021 Head-to-Head: 1-1 (TV: 0-0)
  • 2021 Titles: 6-2 (TV: 2-0)
  • Tournament Average: 98.64 - 97.16
  • Tournament 180s (180s per leg): 14 (0.25) - 19 (0.34)
  • Doubles hit (Checkout %): 37/86 (43.02%) - 43/94 (45.74%)
  • 100+ checkouts (per leg won): 5 (0.13) - 5 (0.11)

Callan Rydz aka ‘The Riot’ has been living up to that nickname throughout this tournament with four wins to his name and just one set lost. He defeated Yuki Yamada and Brendan Dolan 3-0 then beat Nathan Aspinall 4-0 and Alan Soutar 4-1 to advance to the Quarter-Finals.

In a recent post match interview he suggested that losing a set actually made him relax and you understand the sentiment of that when everyone keeps harping on about his winning record to nil.

He’s looked in a relaxed mood so far, without a care in the world. He’s just got up there and thrown his darts, granted he hasn’t been in a tight game yet but Dolan did register a 100+ average against him so you can’t say he’s had it all his own way.

He’s a dual winner on the floor this year and reached the quarter-final of the World Matchplay so this run isn’t much of a surprise. He has a tournament average of 97.16 and is hitting his doubles at 45.74%. You’d have to imagine he’d have to perform to this standard once again here to trouble ‘Snakebite’.

Wright has also reached this stage with the minimum of fuss, in fact he’s caused more problems for himself than his opponents have by tinkering was his darts. He changed them against his third round opponent Damon Heta and quickly found himself 2-0 behind. A switch back to his trusted gold darts however reversed his fortunes as he produced a top notch four sets of darts to win 4-2 with something to spare.

His two other victories, 3-0 against Ryan Meikle and 4-1 versus Ryan Searle were straightforward too. You have to say neither opponent gave him anything to worry about so this could be the biggest test for him yet.

This is Peter Wright however and I expect him to have too match in a race to five sets. No players has won more individual titles than him this year and the way he won the Matchplay averaging 104.91 shows he can do that for long periods. He’s only done it in short bursts in this event so far and another one of those here could be all he needs to quickly run away with it.

Although his 180s per leg ratio is less than Rydz for the tournament, over the season he boasts 0.31 compared to the Geordie's 0.24 so if he's on his A-game like I expect, then over many sets, he should come out on top.

Predicted Scoreline: 5-2

Gerwyn Price (8/15) v Michael Smith (6/4)

  • Overall Head-to-Head: 13-2-14 (TV: 6-2-6)
    2021 Head-to-Head: 3-0 (TV: 1-0)
  • 2021 Titles: 5-2 (TV: 1-0)
  • Tournament Average: 95.29 - 99.83
  • Tournament 180s (180s per leg): 17 (0.25) - 27 (0.37)
  • Doubles hit (Checkout %): 43/97 (44.33%) - 43/91 (47.25%)
  • 100+ checkouts (per leg won): 12 (0.28) - 7 (0.16)

Defending champion Gerwyn Price found his latest match the easiest of the three as he defeated Dirk Van Duijvenbode 4-1, averaging just 96.66 but he looked good.

He had much more trouble in defeating Kim Huybrechts the previous round and it required a last leg decider to come out on top. He even survived a mini scare in his opener as he defeated Ritchie Edhouse 3-1.

The foundation for success in these matches has been his finishing. The world number one has already notched up 12 ton plus finishes on top of the 23 he amassed as he won the title last year.

Smith has been performing as if he’s got a point to prove after being omitted from the Premier League this year following an early exit in this event last year.

When he reached the final that year he opened his World Championship campaign by defeating Ron Meulenkamp, something that he commenced with this year too with the tournament high average so far of 106.32. He’ll be hoping he can emulate his success of that year now too after his latest victory over Jonny Clayton.

I could list of whole list of superlatives to describe that match it was that good. You couldn’t call a winner has both players just seemed to be able to match their opponent. Whether it was power scoring or big finishes they both provide us with darting entertainment throughout. Clayton averaged higher than Smith but he just refused to buckle.

The 2019 runner-up's tournament average of 99.83 is similar to his tournament average he produced when he lost in the final at 99.62. This suggests that he’s certainly playing well enough to go one better. I am really struggling to predict the winner but the recent head to head favours Price and that’s enough for me to edge that way. A big finish at the right time could be the difference.

Predicted Scoreline: 5-4

Saturday January 1: Afternoon session

James Wade (1/2) v Mervyn King (13/8)

  • Overall Head-to-Head: 19-25 (TV: 10-10)
    2021 Head-to-Head: 0-3 (TV: 0-1)
  • 2021 Titles: 1-0 (TV: 1-0)
  • Tournament Average: 88.52 - 90.18
  • Tournament 180s (180s per leg): 0 (0.00) - 15 (0.26)
  • Doubles hit (Checkout %): 21/56 (37.50%) - 36/97 (37.11%)
  • 100+ checkouts (per leg won): 4 (0.19) - 5 (0.14)

Two players who’ve reached the PDC World Championship semi-final previously but never been able to surpass that stage.

Wade reached that stage in 2009, 2012 and 2013 and is often talked about as the greatest player to have never won a world title given he’s pretty much won every other title available. King was also a semi-finalist in 2009 but has never got anywhere near that since. They’ll both see this as a big opportunity.

Wade, winner of the UK Open in March, has only played two matches to reach this stage when his scheduled third round opponent had to withdraw due to Covid. Across these two matches he’s dropped just one set in defeating Maik Kuivenhoven 3-1 then Martijn Kleermaker 4-0.

Both matches sound like they were comfortable wins but the performances couldn’t have been more different. He averaged just 83.74 in defeating Kuivenhoven, the lowest winning average of the second round but then produced a much better performance against Kleermaker, averaging 93.15 and producing a finishing masterclass, checking out 9 of his 12 attempts below 100.

He’s reached this round without hitting a 180 and that’s the fifth time in 2021 he’s gone back to back matches without registering one. Although he’s never been the biggest of maximum hitters you’d have expected some in these longer format matches.

King has hit 15 himself across his three matches and if Wade had get here comfortably, King has done anything but that. He survived a huge scare to see off Ryan Joyce in the second round after trailing 2-0 and Joyce appearing to live up to his relentless nickname. King wasn’t playing bad, hung in there and managed to gradually turn the tables in his favour.

Similarly in his last match he had to fight back from 3-1 down against the Aussie Raymond Smith. This time however he wasn’t playing well. Smith admitted afterwards he struggled to see out the game due to emotional matters and King took full advantage to win 4-3.

These pair have met 44 times and it’s King who leads that head to head 25-19. He also leads the head to head 3-0 this year. Wade is favourite however and I see him coming out on top. I liked what I saw of him in his last match and while he appears to be getting better across his matches I’d be more concerned about King who was way off the pace last time.

Predicted Scoreline: 5-3

Luke Humphries (5/4) v Gary Anderson (8/13)

  • Overall Head-to-Head: 1-1 (TV: 1-0)
    2021 Head-to-Head: 0-0 (TV: 0-0)
  • 2021 Titles: 0-0 (TV: 0-0)
  • Tournament Average: 96.56 - 93.69
  • Tournament 180s (180s per leg): 17 (0.39) - 13 (0.18)
  • Doubles hit (Checkout %): 27/65 (41.54%) - 44/105 (41.9%)
  • 100+ checkouts (per leg won): 4 (0.15) - 6 (0.14)

Luke Humphries reaches his third quarter=final in four years after surprisingly exiting at the first hurdle last year to Paul Lim.

He too has only played two matches to be here and whilst he’s performed well in both the progress couldn’t have been much different. He beat Rowby-John Rodriguez 3-0, losing just two legs in his opener match before receiving a bye when Dave Chisnall withdrew due to Covid.

In his last match he had to dig deep however to defeat Chris Dobey 4-3, a game that featured 25 180’s, 14 for Luke. He trailed 3-1 but possesses a power scoring game capable of matching anyone. He kept plugging away, believing in himself and when you are hitting more than 40% of your doubles for the tournament (41.54%) you are always going to give yourself a chance in any match.

Anderson on the other hand should’ve been eliminated in the second round surviving a match dart from Ian White. He looked way off the pace in that one and he got lucky as White suffered with the finish line jitters as The Flying Scotsman fought back to win 4-3.

He played well in his opener versus former back to back champion Adrian Lewis and also produced a good performance in defeating another previous champion Rob Cross in his last game 4-3. What was notable is that he changed back to his more trusted darts during this game and it was a marked improvement despite the close scoreline.

He defeated an opponent in Cross though who just didn’t perform as he has been until he had given himself too much to do. He starting playing at 3-1 down but Anderson just had too much in reserve despite a miscount late on and several missed doubles.

Humphries is consistent and so is his throw, you know how he’s going to perform in general and Anderson will know he can’t afford to be off it today. I expect a close game but I’ve been very impressed with Humphries this week and this year. A four-time finalist in 2021 I’m taking him to come out in top.

Predicted Scoreline: 5-3

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