ROUND TWO 28/12 AFTERNOON MATCHES
| Name | Alan Norris | Joe Murnan |
| Odds | 4/11 | 5/2 |
| Live world ranking | 44 | 47 |
| 64 ranking | 36 | 41 |
| Previous round | 3-0 vs Thornton | 3-2 vs Hamilton |
| H2H (all time) | 0 | 0 |
| H2H (this year) | 0 | 0 |
Monday kicks off with the only match between unseeded players, as Alan Norris faces Joe Murnan. Norris had a terrific opening match, finishing off an sub-par Rob Thornton in straight sets. Chuck only allowed the Grand Prix winner to take three legs in the match, outscoring the Scot (one less 100, but six more 140+ scores) and didn't mess about on finishing, hitting more than half of his doubles. Oddly, two of Thornton's three legs were run against the throw, so if Norris can play better on his own throw, that'd be scary. Murnan came through a turgid tussle against Andy Hamilton, finally coming through 6-4 in the deciding set, doing well to refocus after thinking he'd won the match at 5-4 in legs. Both players had similar scoring stats and both averaged 86, but Murnan critically hit more doubles from the same number of attempts, and that was that.
Norris is rightly a solid favourite, I think he's not going to be quite dominant enough that we can consider firing at the price we've got, but should win through to the last 16 a large proportion of the time. No bets here.
| Name | Terry Jenkins | Mark Webster |
| Odds | 21/20 | 10/11 |
| Live world ranking | 9 | 26 |
| 64 ranking | 12 | 23 |
| Previous round | 3-1 vs Young | 3-0 vs McGowan |
| H2H (all time) | 8 | 3 |
| H2H (this year) | 0 | 0 |
Now for a slightly better game, as perennial contender Terry Jenkins faces a resurgent Mark Webster, with the winner having a great opportunity to reach the quarters as they face the winner of the previous game. Jenkins made hard work of the American number one Darin Young, losing the first set and being two legs down in the second, but was able to grind it out, pulling three legs back to level at 1-1 and win the remaining sets, coming back in the fourth with Young throwing to make it 2-2 in sets before winning in a decider. 8 maximums is a decent return, but he can do a lot better than ending up with a sub-90 average - Young hit more than half his doubles so it's not like Jenkins was dragged down too much. Webster managed virtually the same average as Jenkins in round one, nicking three sets in deciding legs against veteran Irish qualifier Mick McGowan. The only breaks came in the second set, with Webster getting two to Mick's one to claim it and move 2-0 up, and it was Webster's finishing that was most impressive, hitting nine from fifteen.
These two have played 11 times, but not since 2012, and I think it's important that Terry has had the better of it when they've played in the big events - he took both games when they were in the Premier League, and Jenkins also won both games when they've met in major tournaments.
1u Jenkins 21/20, I think it'll be fairly close but that Jenkins should be the favourite, which is enough to go for this at odds against.
| Name | Dave Pallett | Mensur Suljovic |
| Odds | 9/4 | 5/12 |
| Live world ranking | 43 | 21 |
| 64 ranking | 45 | 17 |
| Previous round | 3-2 vs K Huybrechts | 3-1 vs Wattimena |
| H2H (all time) | 0 | 0 |
| H2H (this year) | 0 | 0 |
Next up we have Dave Pallett, who scored one of the upsets of the round to knock out Kim Huybrechts, coming from a set down at 2-1 to claim six straight legs after Huybrechts won the first leg in the fourth to move through to the last 32 for the first time. This might have been easier for Dave, as he missed set darts in the third after the first two sets effectively went with throw, but showed great finishing under pressure in the final set, hitting two ton plus checkouts to secure the best win of his career. Suljovic's game was a bit mediocre early, having shared the first two sets with all ten legs going with throw, before turning on the style and playing as well in the last two sets as anyone's done this tournament, ending up with seven 170+ scores and solid finishing.
I think Mensur's a favourite here, Dave's in uncharted territory and isn't going to fear him, which makes me hesitant to pull the trigger on the Austrian. I think the line is slightly underestimating Mensur, but with it being solidly odds-on as it is, I don't think that it's worth betting just to make a tiny profit. If you're going for an acca just for sweat value, stick Suljovic in
ROUND TWO 28/12 EVENING MATCHES
plus one bonus game on the 29th
| Name | Adrian Lewis | Andrew Gilding |
| Odds | 2/11 | 5/1 |
| Live world ranking | 4 | 25 |
| 64 ranking | 7 | 26 |
| Previous round | 3-0 vs Dekker | 3-0 vs Price |
| H2H (all time) | 1 | 1 |
| H2H (this year) | 0 | 1 (6-2, UK Open Qualifier) |
Both of these players came through their opening matches without losing a set, but it was Lewis that likely had more trouble, needing to put in some work to overcome Jan Dekker, who overcome being outscored fairly easily by hitting several big outs, but Adie got the job done in the end with a 164 to finish. Ending with nearly 100, Lewis hit far more big scores and cleaned up solidly. Gilding got past Gerwyn Price winning each of the sets 3-1, neither player scoring profilicly but Gilding managed to do just enough to get more shots at double and hit them at a much better rate and get the straight sets win.
Lewis should win this one comfortably. They've only met twice, but one of them was on TV where Gilding (pre-beast mode Gilding I have to add) didn't win a leg in the 2014 Matchplay. First to four sets is a solid length, I can't see Gilding being able to do it, although he could take a set maybe. Leaving this one alone.
| Name | Peter Wright | Ronny Huybrechts |
| Odds | 1/7 | 6/1 |
| Live world ranking | 6 | 38 |
| 64 ranking | 5 | 43 |
| Previous round | 3-0 vs Brown | 3-2 vs Winstanley |
| H2H (all time) | 4 | 2 |
| H2H (this year) | 0 | 0 |
What was billed as one of the best matchups of the first round turned out to be a damp squib, as Wright got past Keegan Brown with a minimum of fuss, the youngster being able to hit a decent amount of 180s but not much outside of that, as Wright rolled off the first two sets to zero, and then overcame a bit of an attempt at a fightback by claiming the third set in a deciding leg. Wright wasn't spectacular, but was professional, when the other guy is playing in such a way where he's going to give you every chance it can be easy for your stats to look poor. Ronny on the other hand got through a fairly dire affair against Dean Winstanley, with Dean's 180 hitting not really being enough as Ronny matched him everywhere else and hit more doubles despite having less chances. It was a poor game which dragged on nearly to a sudden death leg and I think everyone was just glad it's over.
Wright's winning this comfortably. This is a rematch from the same stage last year, where Peter won 4-1 in sets, and that wouldn't surprise me as a result. The only times Ronny's beaten Wright have been in floor events and been close games, he can grab a set but can't play well enough to get past someone of Wright's quality.
| Name | Phil Taylor | Kevin Painter |
| Odds | 1/9 | 71/10 |
| Live world ranking | 3 | 31 |
| 64 ranking | 3 | 34 |
| Previous round | 3-0 vs Ono | 3-0 vs Viljanen |
| H2H (all time) | 30 | 1 |
| H2H (this year) | 0 | 0 |
This will be the fifth time that these two will meet in the worlds, the most notable being the 2004 final where Painter was on the losing side of a nailbiter, but since then he's lost 5-1, 5-1 and 4-1, not quite so close. Both players came through qualifying opponents in their opening games, Taylor only dropping the one leg against Keita Ono, who had some chances in the first but couldn't get it done. Taylor didn't look brilliant, using a new setup, but still managed 60% on checkouts and just south of a ton overall, which should easily be enough against Painter. Kevin beat Kim Viljanen, who won one more leg than Ono, a combination of Painter playing better than he's done in a while and Kim not doing as well as he did in the prelim putting pay to any chances of a possible upset. If Painter plays that well, and Phil has an off day, who knows?
We do, he's losing. Not taking 9/1 on though
| Name | Mervyn King | Jelle Klaasen |
| Odds | 13/8 | 4/7 |
| Live world ranking | 15 | 19 |
| 64 ranking | 18 | 16 |
| Previous round | 3-2 vs Oreshkin | 3-0 vs Cullen |
| H2H (all time) | 13 | 10 |
| H2H (this year) | 1 (6-4, Pro Tour) | 1 (6-4, Pro Tour) |
Our last round of 32 game takes place on Tuesday, as two of the better performers of the first round come head to head, with the prospect of a game against Phil for the winner. King needed to work hard, coming from two sets down to defeat the unorthodox Russian wildcard qualifier Alexsandr Oreshkin. King was playing very well, he just had the odd off throw which allowed Oreshkin to get occasional shots which he hit out of nowhere, and when the game dragged on, King's experience came through. 23 140+ scores to the other guy's five is a show of dominance, even if the scoreline doesn't reflect it. Klaasen on the other hand finished with the best average of the round, ending north of 102 against Joe Cullen, who couldn't do much on Klaasen's throw but otherwise played well enough himself that Jelle couldn't take any liberties. The only break Cullen had was in a set where he had the throw - after having been broken himself.
Line again looks good. Klaasen seems a slight favourite on most metrics. I'm half tempted by a small play on King though, and will watch line movements to see what happens.
