You’re probably not even over the amazing events of day 12 and here we are jumping right into the next one…
Darting superstars Luke Littler and Michael van Gerwen are unleashed again on Day 13 at the Ally Pally with quarter-final places on the line at the Paddy Power World Championship. Former world champions Peter Wright and Gerwyn Price are already into the New Year’s Day bonanza and six more stars will join them during a mouth-watering day of action.
Title favourites Luke The Nuke and MVG head the charge and Record Sport guides you through the when and who for a huge afternoon and evening of darts in the sport’s biggest tournament. Strap yourselves in…
Afternoon session 12.30pm
Chris Dobey v Kevin Doets
Hollywood was strong in patches against Alexander Merkx, despite some patchy doubling. That all changed during a sparkling success over Josh Rock in round three when he was much more lethal.
Doets grabbed the high-profile success when sinking Michael Smith and that was a step up on his opening figures against Noah-Lynn van Leuven. He battled superbly to fight back and beat Krzysztof Ratajski and set up this tie. Dobey will have to be on it because Doets showed against The Polish Eagle he is dogged.
Callan Rydz v Robert Owen
The Riot has been simply majestic so far in the tournament. He has averaged over a ton in two of his three matches and simply dismantled Dimitri Van den Bergh with power scoring and clinical finishing. On that form. he’s going to be hard to stop, but Owen is an incredible story.
The man who drives an Iceland delivery van for his job has sped straight into this tie with excellent wins over Niels Zonneveld, Gabriel Clemens and Ricky Evans. He has a free shot at this.
Nathan Aspinall v Ricardo Pietreczko
Aspinall felt big pressure to deliver in his first game against Leonard Gates and, although winning, didn’t hit the heights he had hoped. The St Helens star was much better in his next win over Andrew Gilding. Although the heavy scoring was missing, Aspinall finished superbly.
Pietreczko has dropped just two sets in the defeats of Zong Xiao Chen, Gian Van Veen and Scott Humphries and, of course, he came close to knocking Luke Humphries out 12 months ago. This has the potential to be a superb clash between England and Germany with loud fans from both camps.
Evening session 7pm
Stephen Bunting v Luke Woodhouse
The Bullet is being tipped to have a deep run in the competition and there was plenty to like in his second-round win over Kai Gotthardt. Bunting then stepped up on that showing in round three when he dismissed Madars Razma.
Woodhouse was impressive in taking care of Laurence Ilagan in round one, but his display dropped off against Mike De Decker, despite the fact he was beating a player of a higher ranking and seeding. He addressed that situation by reeling-off nine successive legs to beat nine-dart Damon Heta in the last 32 and he was strong.
Michael van Gerwen v Jeffrey De Graaf
The Green Machine opened his bid for a fourth win title with a strong defeat of James Hurrell. Van Gerwen, though, was patchy in his success over Brendan Dolan. There are more gears at his disposal and he’s looking to click through them.
De Graaf stunned the tournament when he knocked Gary Anderson out in the second round and he was solid, if unspectacular, in taking care of Paulo Nebrida. The three-times champion is a hot favourite to progress.
Luke Littler v Ryan Joyce
Littler dealt with bundles of nerves and tension seven days ago when returning to Palace to beat Ryan Meikle and was improved without hitting in his top gears in the subsequent success over Ian White. Joyce was solid to see-off and Darius Labanauskas in round one and has improved in each game since in wins over over the dangerous Danny Noppert and high-scoring Ryan Searle.
The Geordie is a huge underdog and admits he won’t cope if The Nuke hits full power. But he’s a superb double-hitter and will take any chances afforded by Littler.