Gerwyn Price in action against Dave Chisnall at the 2020 World Grand Prix

World Grand Prix: Night five quarter-final predictions, betting tips, acca, order of play and TV time

By Carl Fletcher

Darts

Fri October 08, 2021 · 4y ago

The World Grand Prix quarter-finals take place on Thursday night so check out Carl Fletcher's match-by-match predictions, best bets and a suggested acca.

It’s quarter-final night and the stage is set for a terrific night of darts. The 2020 World Cup Winning Duo of Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton head the title betting as we’re down to eight but with the number of shocks we’ve seen so far this past week nothing can be taken for granted.

Darts betting tips: World Grand Prix quarter-finals

1pt 4 or more 100+ checkouts in Bunting vs Searle match at 3/1 (Sky Bet)

1pt Gerwyn Price to win, hit over 3.5 180’s and checkout over 116.5 at 3/1 (Sky Bet)

1pt Clayton to win and have the highest checkout at 5/4 (Sky Bet)

Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook

World Grand Prix: Thursday October 7

TV Coverage: Sky Sports (1900 BST)
Format: Best of five sets. All Sets are the best of five legs. 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.

SL Acca: Price, Noppert and Clayton all to win (-1.5sets) at 8/1 with Sky Bet

Danny Noppert (8/13) vs Ian White (5/4)

Head to Head (TV): 2-2 (1-0)
2021 Head to Head (TV): 0-0 (0-0)
2021 Titles (TV): 0-0 (0-0)
Three-Dart Average (2021): 96.22 – 94.89
180s per leg (2021): 0.26 – 0.26
Checkout percentage (Stage Events 2021): 38.36% - 27.32%
100+ checkout per leg won (2021): 12.75% - 7.98%
World Grand Prix double-in stats (2020): 42.59% – 41.38%
World Grand Prix Best: Round 2 (x2) – QF (x2)

The way these two have progressed to this round couldn’t have been much different. Ian White has come through two very close encounters, in fact two last leg deciders to reach this far. His tournament average is 83.41 and his double success to close out legs is just 29.51%.

In the opening round Gary Anderson missed a dart at double 20 to send him packing and last night Darius Labanauskas came to the oche requiring 126 to win the match in the deciding leg. It really has been skin of the teeth stuff for ‘Diamond White’. Fortunately in both these games he had the throw in the deciding leg and he’s now won all seven of his matches this year when having the darts in a last leg.

There was two interesting things to note for Ian last night. Firstly, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him as animated when winning legs and secondly, his spirited fight back seemed to really get the crowd behind him. He may need some more vociferous support again tonight!

‘Noppie’ on the other hand has looked sublime. He’s the only player left in the line-up who hasn’t dropped a set as he’s ousted two Dutch opponents. He impressively defeated Michael Van Gerwen 2-0 in the opening round in a high quality encounter then emphatically beat Vincent Van Der Voort 3-0 despite the ‘Dutch Destroyer’ not playing poorly himself, averaging 87.14.

Danny has looked assured in his opening two matches. His tournament average is 10 points higher than that of his opponent at 93.46%, his doubling-out success is not far off double at 53.57%. His ‘doubling-in’ success is 48% and he’s checked all 9 attempts at outshots of 60 or below. There really hasn’t been a weakness identified in his game during this event so far.

I can’t oppose Noppert in this match and he deservedly starts this game as favourite. His seasonal stats for average, doubles and match win percentage are all higher of the two players and he won their only other previous televised meeting – also a quarter-final – in the World Series of Darts Finals in 2019, when White was probably playing at the peak of his game in recent years. I expect him to race into an early lead, on this occasion however I don’t see White producing a comeback.

Predicted Scoreline: Danny Noppert 3-1 Ian White
Best Bet: Noppert to win -1.5 sets at 11/8

Krzysztof Ratajski (6/4) vs Jonny Clayton (8/15)

Head to Head (TV): 2-2 (2-1)
2021 Head to Head (TV): 1-0 (1-0)
2021 Titles (TV): 0-4 (0-2)
Three-Dart Average (2021): 96.97 – 98.68
180s per leg (2021): 0.24 – 0.27
Checkout percentage (Stage Events 2021): 37.25% - 42.06%
100+ checkout per leg won (2021): 9.82% - 12.82%
World Grand Prix double-in stats (2020): 41.38% – 46.48%
World Grand Prix Best: Round 1 (x2) – Round 2 (2020)

This promises to be the game of the night with two players in the Quarter-Final of this event for first time in their careers.

Of course, Clayton has become accustomed to reaching the latter stages of big events especially over the past 12 months, having won last years World Cup of Darts, the Masters and the Premier League in that time period. There’s no doubt for me he’s been one of the Top 3 players of 2021 alongside Peter Wright and Gerwyn Price.

Taking a look at his tournament stats he’s averaging 95.00, his double success is a whopping 62.96% and he’s registered eight scores of 171+ already. He won his opening match 2-0 vs Callan Rydz averaging 95.10 the backed this up with an impressive 3-1 victory over Jose De Sousa this time averaging 94.95 in a high quality affair. You know what you are going to get with Jonny and he generally doesn’t produce too much below what we’ve come to expect of him in recent times.

Ratajski himself has been very good beating two excellent opponents so far. In his first round match he dispatched of Nathan Aspinall 2-1 averaging 94.26, then beat Rob Cross 3-1 averaging 88.86 last night. He was consistent throughout both those games; whilst he ground out a victory in the first round he was pretty much always in control against ‘Voltage’ in Round 2, never giving him chance to assert any authority over him.

He’s never been the biggest of three treble visit hitters but he has mustered six scores of 171+ so far this week, his tournament average is a healthy 91.09 but his double hitting is some way below his opponent at 38.64%.

He’s yet to register a ton plus out shot in this event this year but he has been terrific on the lower score outshots of 60 or below, checking out 14 of his 15 attempts at them. He’ll need to continue that strike rate to get anything out of this match. The question is will Clayton give him those opportunities as he’s already notched up five 100+ outshots this week, checking out an impressive 35.7% of his opportunities at that range.

Ratajski is a UK Open quarter finalist this year and also a World Matchplay semi-finalist and a positive for him is that he leads the head-to-head in televised games between the pair 2-1 including an emphatic 10-3 victory in the UK Open this year.

I believe that Clayton is in the better form of the two however. His seasonal record and tournament stats suggest that and looking at recent form, Ratajski has only averaged above 90 in 3 of his last 8 matches and he’s won just 4 of his last 10. Clayton on the other hand has averaged 95+ in 6 of his last 10 matches, winning 6 too.

After a cagey opening two sets I’m going for ‘The Ferret’ to assert his authority and defeat the ‘Polish Eagle’ here to keep alive the possibility of him facing his compatriot Gerwyn Price in the final.

Predicted Scoreline: Krzysztof Ratajski 1-3 Jonny Clayton
Best Bet: Clayton to win and have the highest checkout at 5/4

Gerwyn Price (2/7) vs Dave Chisnall (13/5)

Head to Head (TV): 4-4 (2-2)
2021 Head to Head (TV): 0-0 (0-0)
2021 Titles (TV): 4-0 (1-0)
Three-Dart Average (2021): 99.16 – 95.72
180s per leg (2021): 0.30 – 0.32
Checkout percentage (Stage Events 2021): 41.25% - 46.35%
100+ checkout per leg won (2021): 11.56% - 12.26%
World Grand Prix double-in stats (2020): 42.49% – 47.37%
World Grand Prix Best: Winner (2020) – Runner-Up (x2)

As the draw as opened up for ‘The Iceman’ he is now red hot favourite to retain his title here but it must be remembered that Dave Chisnall should’ve beaten him last year but for three missed match darts in the Semi-Final.

Price has been in top form of late, winning 42 of his last 50 matches which includes two titles success in the only two European Tour events being held this year and looking at his tournament stats this momentum doesn’t seem like waning. His tournament average is 95.76, he has a doubles percentage of 42.5%, he’s checked out all 10 out shots when he’s come to the oche with three darts in hand needing a double.

One telling stat, particularly for his rivals, is his 180 ability seems to be increasing. His seasonal ratio of 0.30 per leg was already up on last year but his 180 per leg throughout this tournament is even better at 0.38 per leg, that some going in a ‘double in’ format.

If you are talking 180’s then ‘Chizzy’ is usually part of the conversation, he still remains one the big hitters on tour in that respect with a seasonal ratio of 0.32 and he’ll need to produce somewhere near that mark here to keep tabs on his opponent.

He staged a marvellous comeback on Tuesday night against Ross Smith having looked in all sorts of trouble, trailing 2-0. He found one of those mesmeric spells of scoring, hitting six 180’s in seven legs of darts at one point to mount the comeback.

No one would begrudge Chisnall a major title success but he can probably count himself a tad fortunate to come through two tight encounters so far. I have a feeling he won’t get away with it, if he’s slow away here.

His ‘doubling in’ success this week has been 39.7% and his doubling out has been 52.9%. The latter is superb but you’d suspect the former figure may just need to improve a little to keep him on the coat tails of the tournament favourite here. If it does you’d give him every chance but I think Gezzy just has too much for him at the moment. The World Number One and reigning World Champion looks supremely confident and is playing like the best in the world at present. I envisage him getting out the blocks quickly and winning this comfortably.

Predicted Scoreline: Gerwyn Price 3-0 Dave Chisnall
Best Bet: Gerwyn Price to win the match, score over 3.5 180’s and checkout over 116.5 at 3/1

Stephen Bunting (11/10) vs Ryan Searle (8/11)

Head to Head (TV): 2-2 (1-0)
2021 Head to Head (TV): 0-1 (0-0)
2021 Titles (TV): 1-1 (0-0)
Three-Dart Average (2021): 93.68 – 95.73
180s per leg (2021): 0.26 – 0.24
Checkout percentage (Stage Events 2021): 44.93% - 36.56%
100+ checkout per leg won (2021): 16.38% - 13.06%
World Grand Prix double-in stats (2020): N/A – 35.71%
World Grand Prix Best: Semi-Final (2014) – Round 1 (2020)

Both these players have oozed confidence in reaching the Quarter-Final stage and both will see this as a real opportunity to progress to a major semi-final in what is a repeat of their Last 16 encounter at the World Championship.

On that occasion it was ‘The Bullet’ who prevailed 4-3 in what was an absolute belter of match and was nigh on impossible to predict the winner even in the last set. Having trailed 2-0 in the seventh and final set Bunting pulled out all the stops to win three consecutive legs in eleven, fifteen and thirteen darts to claim the victory.

The pair have met one since then and it was ‘Heavy Metal’ who was the victor on that occasion in the Semi-Final of Players Championship Fifteen. Over the course of the year both have claimed a title on the floor.

Looking at the seasonal stats it’s Searle who boasts the higher average by a couple of points and he also boasts the better tournament average here, 91.94 to Bunting’s 90.64. Hard to envisage really given Bunting averaged 99.05 in a majestic opening round performance.

Both have actually very played well this week and it was refreshing to hear that Stephen Bunting thought he wasn’t far away from winning the Worlds in January. He also found an extra gear when James Wade drew level at 1-1 in his latest match to push on and seal the victory.

Similarly full credit to Searle who after an emphatic opening two sets managed closed out his match despite a terrific late rally by Luke Humphries. This is going to be difficult to predict but I’m going for Bunting to win a five set tussle as he’s won both previous encounters on stage.

One telling stat from this week is the pairs 100+ outshots. Bunting has already registered six and Searle five. In a close game to call this could be a more sensible betting angle to look at especially if you fancy this to go all the way.