Luke Humphries (Picture: PDC/Taylor Lanning)

World Matchplay 2023: Day seven darts predictions, odds, betting tips, accas, order of play & TV times

By Chris Hammer

Darts

Fri July 21, 2023 · 2y ago

The quarter-finals of the Betfred World Matchplay conclude on Friday night so here's our match-by-match preview and best bets.

Darts betting tips: World Matchplay day seven

2pts Clayton (-2.5 legs) to beat Searle at 11/10 (General)

2pt Humphries to win and hit most 180s at 11/8 (Paddy Power)

SL Acca: Clayton (-2.5 legs) and Humphries to win with most 180s at 4/1 with Sky Bet * LAST NIGHT'S ACCA WON AT 5/1!

Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook

World Matchplay: Friday July 21

Venue: Winter Gardens, Blackpool
TV Coverage: Sky Sports (2000 BST)
Format: Quarter-finals, best of 31 legs. Each game must be won by two clear legs, with up to a maximum of five additional legs being played before the sixth additional leg is sudden-death

Ryan Searle (6/5) v Jonny Clayton (8/13)

Overall H2H: 3-2 (TV: 0-1)
2023: 1-0 (TV: 0-0)
Seasonal Average:
Searle: 94.93
Clayton: 96.81
180s per leg in 2023
Searle: 0.24
Clayton: 0.22
Checkout % in 2023 (Stage events only)
Searle: 32.64%
Clayton: 41.48%
Match Treble % (Win, most 180s & high checkout)
Searle: 18.64%
Clayton: 18.80%

Ryan Searle's biggest challenge this week has been extending his stay at his hotel having only originally booked a room until Wednesday.

This speaks volumes of the way he took care of Raymond van Barneveld and Peter Wright in the previous rounds and maybe now he's about to fulfil the prophecy Snakebite made about him after the 2021 Players Championship Finals.

Back then, Wright dubbed him the "future of darts" and after Wednesday night's victory he admitted he struggled to live up to that tag throughout 2022 but now - with the help of training partner Gary Anderson - he's looking a potential major winner once again.

However, standing in his way is Mr Consistent Jonny Clayton, who put the emotion of issues in his personal life to one side during a dazzling 11-6 triumph over Dimitri van den Bergh in which he averaged 102.

The Ferret made history recently by averaging over 90 for 53 matches in a row - a record in the Dart Connect era of collecting data - but his performance against the Belgian was more like the higher level he regularly achieves and the kind he needs to produce to lift the Phil Taylor Trophy for the first time in his career.

He is my sole surviving outright tip after all my other selections were the only outsiders who failed to contribute to a tournament of shocks!

I'm sticking with Clayton due to his experience of longer format darts at the business end of majors and producing the goods in them.

Searle's time will come but breaking his duck in the second biggest major of them all might be a step too far for now.

Scoreline prediction: 11-16

CLICK HERE to back Clayton (-2.5) to win with Sky Bet

WHO'S HIT MOST NINE-DART FINISHES?

Damon Heta (6/4) v Luke Humphries (1/2)

Overall H2H: 0-5 (TV: 0-1)
2023: 0-3 (TV: 0-1)
Seasonal Average:
Heta: 95.06
Humphries: 97.84
180s per leg in 2023:
Heta: 0.30
Humphries: 0.33
Checkout % in 2023 (Stage events only):
Heta: 37.62%
Humphries: 40.69%
Match Treble % (Win, Most 180’s & High Checkout):
Heta: 25.00%
Humphries: 23.96%

Damon Heta's Ashes-themed walk-on might lose some of it's impact considering the way Australia are under-performing in the fourth Test this week and the Blackpool crowd could well use the opportunity to mock him rather than boo!

The Aussie's playful rivalry with the fans shows just how much he's enjoying the game right now, but he probably also seems so relaxed because of how little pressure his opponents have put him under.

He despatched Josh Rock 10-5 before thrashing Brendan Dolan 11-1 to extend his winning streak in all competitions to nine matches so he'll certainly be one of the freshest players still in the tournament.

Luke Humphries, however, has been favourite to lift the Phil Taylor Trophy after all the usual heavyweights crashed out early on - even though it must be said everyone else left in the draw will feel this is their best chance to win the second biggest event in the sport.

Cool Hand came into the event off the back of winning a couple of titles in recent weeks so is feeling supremely confidence while he's also beaten Heta in all five of their career meetings, including three in 2023.

One of those was a classic 10-9 victory at the UK Open and I'm expected another close and battle between two form players.

Humphries has hit 14 maximums so far at 0.36 per leg - which is slightly superior to his seasonal rate of 0.33 - and almost matched 180 machine Dirk van Duijvenbode in the previous round. Heta has only managed four at 0.14 per leg and while that's considerably down on his seasonal mark of 0.30 and a sudden rise is to be expected tonight, I'm still favouring Humphries in this market too.

Scoreline prediction: 13-16