The second round of the Boylesports World Grand Prix begins in Leicester on Wednesday night so here's our match-by-match preview and best bets.
The likes of of Gary Anderson, Gerwyn Price and Michael Smith are in action tonight but will they all advance?
Here, we look ahead to all eight matches with seasonal statistics, predictions, best bets and an acca...
Darts betting tips: World Grand Prix day three
2pts Anderson to win the match and hit the most 180’s at 4/5 (Sky Bet)
2pts Bunting to beat Schindler at 8/11 (William Hill)
1pt Gerwyn Price to win 3-0 at 15/8 (Unibet)
SL Acca: Anderson (-1.5), Price (-1.5), Smith (-1.5) and Bunting (-1.5) all to win at 7/1 with Sky Bet
World Grand Prix: Wednesday October 4
- TV Coverage: Sky Sports (1800 GMT)
- Second-Round Format: Best of 5 sets. All sets are the best of five legs. There will be no tie-break in any set. All legs must begin and end with a double, meaning that a player must hit a double before he can begin scoring in each leg.
Andrew Gilding (5/2) v Gary Anderson (2/7)
- Head to Head: 1-6 (TV: 0-1)
2023 Head to Head: 1-0 (TV: 0-0) - Seasonal Average
Gilding: 93.73
Anderson: 98.84 - 180s per leg in 2022
Gilding: 0.18
Anderson: 0.33 - Checkout % in 2023 (Stage events only)
Gilding: 40.29%
Anderson: 36.41% - 100+ checkouts per leg won
Gilding: 15.53%
Anderson: 11.58% - Match Treble % (Win, most 180s, highest checkout)
Gilding: 17.12%
Anderson: 34.69%
Gary Anderson came through a real tough tussle on night one versus Jose De Sousa who averaged 95.17 in defeat in the opening round, it was certainly the toughest any of the victors had thrown against them on Monday in this double start event.
It will come as no shock however to regular followers of darts as ‘The Flying Scotsman’ has been in scintillating form of late. He came into this event on the back of winning Players Championship 24 so he’s now on a winning run of eight successive games and looking back a bit further he’s won 17 of his last 19 matches, losing to just Michael Smith and Luke Humphries in his two reversals. He really does seem to be playing like peak Anderson at times this year.
Similarly, Gilding is enjoying a successful 2023 and in March he claimed the UK Open title, defeating Michael Van Gerwen in the final. He’s also got numerous other good runs under his belt during this year but he’s not been in quite the same vain of form of late. Whereas Anderson has only lost two of his last 19 matches, Gilding has only won nine of his last 19.
He lost the opening set 3-0 versus Rob Cross in the first round but managed fight back and edge the match, evading three match darts from ‘Voltage’ in the process. His match average in that game was 74.93, some 20 points below that of tonight’s opponent.
The head to head strongly favours Anderson, who leads 6-1 including a 4-0 win in the 2017 World Championship in their only previous encounter in a major. Interestingly however their sole meeting since 2020 occurred in February this year and that was won by Gilding 6-4.
I think the form of Anderson puts him as a live contender to win this outright and I believe he’ll have too much for ‘Goldfinger’. In their sole meeting this year, Anderson hit three maximums compared to the two of Gilding and in the opening round he hit six compared to the one of Gilding on Monday evening too. Over this slightly longer format the match double seems the sensible play.
Scoreline Prediction: 0-3
Stephen Bunting (8/13) v Martin Schindler (6/5)
- Overall H2H: 4-5 (TV: 1-0)
2023: 1-0 (TV: 0-0) - Seasonal Average
Bunting: 95.33
Schindler: 94.24 - 180s per leg in 2022
Bunting: 0.29
Schindler: 0.30 - Checkout % in 2023 (Stage events only)
Bunting: 36.29%
Schindler: 38.12% - 100+ checkouts per leg won
Bunting: 10.71%
Schindler: 9.85% - Match Treble % (Win, most 180s, highest checkout)
Bunting: 29.75%
Schindler: 22.58%
Martin Schindler defeated Raymond Van Barneveld in the first round on Monday night and whilst a few years ago that may have been in minor shock, in the current world order you’d have to say Schindler would be favourite in that match nowadays.
He didn’t have to be at his best either as RVB averaged just 76.69 against him but he did have to dig deep to overcome ‘Barney’ after being forced into a deciding set.
Bunting also had to dig deep to win 2-1, on this occasion winning a last leg decider by virtue of an emphatic 14 dart hold of throw. That was arguably the biggest upset on night one as the Matchplay champion and last years runner up was sent packing early.
‘The Bullet’ however has been in fantastic form of late and was widely tipped for a good run here despite being a relative outsider. Coming into this event he’d averaged 100+ in nine of his previous thirteen matches and prior to this, recently reached the final of the German Darts Open on the Euro Tour, an event where he defeated tonight’s opponent 6-1. He’s increased the weight of dart he’s throwing of late and he certainly seems to be reaping the rewards of this change. The two time World Grand Prix Semi-Finalist will be looking to emulate those previous escapades here.
This is just Martin Schindlers second appearance in this event and he exited in the first round last year so he’s already gone one better on this occasion. He came into this tournament averaging less than his opponent in nine of the previous twelve matches he played. Given the form Bunting has been in and the standard he’s been playing I can only see one outcome.
- Scoreline Prediction: 3-1
Michael Smith (2/9) v Brendan Dolan (3/1)
- Overall H2H: 5-8 (TV: 3-1)
2023: 0-1 (TV: 0-0) - Seasonal Average
Smith: 95.50
Dolan: 92.75 - 180s per leg in 2022
Smith: 0.32
Dolan: 0.16 - Checkout % in 2023 (Stage events only)
Smith: 39.72%
Dolan: 39.87% - 100+ checkouts per leg won
Smith: 11.92%
Dolan: 9.49% - Match Treble % (Win, most 180s, highest checkout)
Smith: 27.73%
Dolan: 13.76%
Performance of the opening night was arguably ‘Bully Boy’ Michael Smith who swept past Callan Rydz 2-0, losing just one leg following a blistering start.
This tournament hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for the World Champion who has suffered eight first round defeats in previous years and he’ll be hoping for his first foray into the Quarter Finals with victory over Brendan Dolan here.
Dolan however caused a shock at the World Matchplay by eliminating Michael Van Gerwen in the opening round and backing that up here with an opening round defeat of the quietly fancied former finalist Dirk Van Duijvenbode.
It would be folly to suggest he can’t produce another shock here and he’s won the last three meetings he’s had with Smith and actually leads the head to head 8-5. You have to go back to 2019 for the last time Smith was victorious over tonight’s opponent.
Dolan looked in trouble early on against Van Duijvenbode in round one who blew him away in set one but he dug deep and just kept doing what he needed to do and took advantage a lacklustre ‘Aubergenius’.
Smith has been good this year without being outstanding, averaging a couple of points behind the highest averaging players of 2023. I’d have to fancy him to have too much for Dolan but I’m not convinced he’ll have it all his own way given Dolan clearly enjoys facing him.
- Scoreline Prediction: 3-1
Gerwyn Price (2/9) v Krzysztof Ratajski (3/1)
- Overall H2H: 10-4 (TV: 3-1)
2023: 1-0 (TV: 0-0) - Seasonal Average
Price: 98.84
Ratajski: 95.00 - 180s per leg in 2022
Price: 0.33
Ratajski: 0.17 - Checkout % in 2023 (Stage events only)
Price: 36.41%
Ratajski: 34.23% - 100+ checkouts per leg won
Price: 11.58%
Ratajski: 10.91% - Match Treble % (Win, most 180s, highest checkout)
Price: 34.69%
Ratajski: 19.23%
These two have met on numerous occasions and it is ‘The Iceman’ who boasts a healthy 10-4 lead including a 3-1 lead in their TV encounters.
The sole victory of Ratajski against him on TV came in their first televised match in the Players Championship Finals in 2018 but in these big meetings since its been one way traffic with 10-3, 5-0 and 10-5 victories for Price.
Price was limping through the first set and looked in trouble throughout that opening stanza until pinching leg four when trailing 2-1. From that point on he seemed to have Danny Noppert where he wanted and it always looked a matter of when he wins, not if.
Ratajski however really had to rally to defeat James Wade in his opener. He lost the opening set and found himself two legs behind in the third and final set before winning three legs on the spin to close out the match.
The ‘Polish Eagle’ was a recent winner of the Euro Tour, when he claimed the German Darts Open crown at the beginning of September. Whilst he played well his opponents were profligate on their doubles hitting just 25% (15/60) of their attempts at the double against him.
He’ll be lucky if Price is so wasteful here as the Welshman is in prolific form, winning 27 of his last 31 games across various events and has hit 41.5% of his doubles on stage this season.
Price loves this format too. He won the event in 2020, was runner-up in 2021 and was a Semi-Finalist last year. I’m expecting him to go close this year too. He can keep his emphatic run of TV wins against Ratajski here and win to nil.
- Scoreline Prediction: 3-0
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