Simon Whitlock (Picture: Lawrence Lustig/PDC)

PDC World Darts Championship: Day seven predictions, odds, betting tips, order of play & TV times

Darts

Wed December 20, 2017 · 8y ago

The first round continues at the 25th PDC World Darts Championship tonight - here's the order of play, our predictions, odds and a suggested acca.

Simon Whitlock, Michael Smith and Justin Pipe are the three seeded players in action across tonight's four matches.

Below is the evening's full running order, complete with the Sky Bet odds, Chris Hammer's predicted scoreline for each game, his suggested bets and accumulator. You can also click here for his outright bets and here for the full tournament draw, daily schedule and results.

World Darts Championship: Wednesday December 20

Click on the odds for more Sky Bet match markets

EVENING SESSION

TV coverage: Sky Sports Darts (1900 GMT)

First round: (Best of 5 sets), Preliminary: (Best of 3 sets)

Xiao Chen Zong (4/1) v Bernie Smith (P) (1/6)
The winner of the last two preliminary games has gone on to sensationally his first-round match, with Kevin Munch's triumph over Adrian Lewis trumping Paul Lim's memorable success over Mark Webster 24 hours earlier. The winner of this clash - most likely to be Bernie Smith in the eyes of the bookies - faces the battling Justin Pipe who isn't exactly a formidable opponent so maybe the hat-trick is on. New Zealander Smith will be playing in England for the first time having fulfilled his lifelong ambition to qualify for the World Championship by winning the Oceanic Masters and he's subsequently admitted he's very nervous about the occasion. Very little is known about teenager Xiao Chen Zong, who won the Chinese qualifying event, other than he lost 6-0 to James Wade with an average in the 60s at the Shanghai Masters this year. We've seen shocks aplenty so far so in this best-of-three-sets encounter I'm going to go with the youngster at a big price and hope he's not as nervous as his 53-year-old opponent - and also that his performance against Wade was just a six-leg blip!
Prediction: 2-1

Michael Smith (1/3) v Steve Lennon (23/10)
I profited from Steve Lennon when backing him at 5/1 to qualify from his Grand Slam of Darts group last month but now the secret of his potential is out. Nevertheless he's quite a significant outsider for this and part of that is down to the greater experience Michael Smith has on the big stage, although he'd be the first to admit he hasn't achieved as much as he should have since becoming World Youth champion back in 2013. He's great to watch on his best days with all those maximums flying in but I just feel a shock is perhaps on the cards in what should be a highly-entertaining affair.
Prediction: 2-3
Simon Whitlock (1/4) v Martin Schindler (3/1)
We'll be seeing plenty more from Martin Schindler in the coming years and the 21-year-old won't feel without hope against the veteran Aussie, who has only got past the first round once in his last three attempts. Before that Simon Whitlock enjoyed runs to the quarter and semi-finals (twice) here during a purple patch in his PDC career although his desire to get back towards the very top seems to be on track having reached the World Grand Prix final back in October as well as two televised quarter-finals at the UK Open and European Championship this season. He'll win this relatively comfortably.
Prediction: 3-1
Justin Pipe (1/7) v Xiao Chen Zong/Bernie Smith (9/2)
After the last two nights, there are no guarantees - not even in these type of matches! Don't even think about piling on Justin Pipe, just in case!
Prediction: 3-1