2021 PDC World Darts Championship Third Round Preview
- Ben Wignall
- Dec 24, 2020
- 7 min read
Alexandra Palace may have gone behind closed doors due to London's Tier 4 status, but the action on the oche has been fast and furious as some of the PDC's best have brought their A-game.
But some seeds will not be returning to the Palace after Christmas after bowing out at the first hurdle, notably Rob Cross and Michael Smith.
Bullyboy's dismissal at the hands of Midlands slinger Jason Lowe may have been the most surprising of the round, but there's also been convincing performances from big-guns such as Michael van Gerwen, Peter Wright and Gary Anderson.
Let's have a look at the state of play going into the third round beginning on December 27, and it's thrown up some absolutely massive clashes.
FIRST QUARTER
Michael van Gerwen (1) v Ricky Evans (32)
Joe Cullen (16) v Jonny Clayton (17)
Dave Chisnall (8) v Danny Noppert (25)
Dimitri Van den Bergh (9) v Jermaine Wattimena (24)
Much was said of van Gerwen's 2020 form going into last month's Players Championship Finals, but he put the doubters to rest by defeating Mervyn King in an 11-10 slugfest.
His win against Dirk Van Duijvenbode earlier in the tournament with a 110 average was the MVG of old, and he suitably put away Ryan Murray in the second round with a 109 average, despite the Scot Ryan Murray putting up a valiant effort in a 3-1 defeat.
The next man he has to get past is 'Rapid' Ricky Evans, who took a while to get going against Mickey Mansall but back-to-back top-plus finishes did the job, and a game against the quick 'Mighty Mike' will be more to his suiting. This same match at the same stage finished 4-0 to van Gerwen last year though and it wouldn't be a shock if it happened once again.
Two solid players and good friends in Joe Cullen and Jonny Clayton go up against each other, and before the World Championship Clayton's seasonal average was just a little higher than the Yorkshireman. Cullen though aside from his Grand Slam of Darts disappointment has come into this winning a Winter Series event and International Darts Open.
Dave Chisnall looked solid in his opener against Keegan Brown, and he comes up against Danny Noppert who was perhaps fortunate to get past South African debutant Cameron Carolissen in a poor-quality affair. He can't possibly play to that standard again, but Chisnall should be good enough to get through to the last 16.
One of the other star performers in the second round was World Matchplay winner Dimitri Van den Bergh, who racked up a 106 average when defeating 66-year-old Paul Lim in a 3-0 whitewash. He could end up facing van Gerwen in the quarter final and what a tie that would be.
Prediction: Van den Bergh to beat van Gerwen in the quarter final.
SECOND QUARTER
Jason Lowe v Devon Petersen (29)
Gary Anderson (13) v Mensur Suljovic (20)
Dirk Van Duijvenbode v Adam Hunt
Glen Durrant (12) v Danny Baggish
Some big seeds have been eliminated from this section, with Englishmen Michael Smith and Rob Cross bowing out at the first hurdle.
Smith never seemed to get going against Jason Lowe in the final game of round two, but Lowe upped his game massively from his first round victory over Dmitry Gorbunov and showed the kind of level he did when narrowly being defeated by van Gerwen earlier in the year at the UK Open.
And he now has to come up against Devon Petersen, who didn't show his true self when defeating Steve Lennon as he missed a hatful of doubles. The African Warrior is probably one of the most improved players of 2020 and if he gets flowing, he's been hard to stop in recent times.
Cross meanwhile was taken out in a last-leg shootout by the in-form Dirk Van Duijvenbode, who showed immense bottle with 'Voltage' sat on double six for the match by taking out 99 for a 12-dart leg.
The 'Aubergenius' will play Adam Hunt, who has defeated Lisa Ashton and an out-of-sorts Jamie Hughes, and you'd have to favour Van Duijvenbode for this, who will really fancy himself to win this quarter with some big hitters gone and he will have all the momentum from his previous victory.
There's a battle between two world class veterans in this section as well, as Gary Anderson takes on Mensur Suljovic in a rematch of their 2018 World Matchplay final classic.
Suljovic probably didn't expect to find himself as low as the 20th seed this year, but he's struggled in recent times but showed his best when defeating Matt Edgar 3-1 with a 98 average.
Similarly Anderson has dropped to a lowly 13th in the world due to some big wins coming off his record, and has been suffering with a knee injury recently however he got past the resilient Latvian Madars Razma, who seemingly could not miss the treble 19.
In the final game in the section, three-time BDO world champion Glen Durrant will be facing an American challenger in the form of Danny Baggish, who has outbattled both Damon Heta and Adrian Lewis, hitting a 170 checkout against the latter.
Baggish suffered some bad news this week as his brother has suffered a stroke, but he used that as motivation to get past 'Jackpot', and now comes up against a man who's also has problems as of late in 'Duzza', who seemed to lose some of his ability after suffering from COVID-19.
An 88 average was enough to get past the Brazilian Diogo Portela, but we all know he's capable of going levels above that - after all he is the Premier League champion.
Prediction: Van Duijvenbode to defeat Anderson in the quarter final.
THIRD QUARTER
Peter Wright (2) v Gabriel Clemens (31)
Krzysztof Ratajski (15) v Simon Whitlock (18)
James Wade (7) v Stephen Bunting (26)
Kim Huybrechts v Ryan Searle
This is an absolutely brutal section with not only some proven champions, but some resurgent figures hitting big averages and some talented newcomers arriving on the scene.
Peter Wright made a bit of a scene on the opening night by donning a Grinch outfit against Steve West, but he was relatively comfy in his 3-1 victory, albeit with just a 93 average which isn't as eye-catching as some of his rivals.
Gabriel Clemens is more than capable of taking out anyone on his day, and he showed his class when taking out his young German compatriot Nico Kurz 3-1 in his opening game, despite Kurz taking out both 160 and 161 checkouts.
Two men who hit averages of over 100 in the second round also battle each other as Krzysztof Ratajski and Simon Whitlock do battle, with the latter having somewhat of a career resurgence in 2020.
The Aussie has defeated van Gerwen in three majors this year (albeit losing his next game every single time) so it will put the Wizard at ease that he can't meet the Green Machine until the final. He overcame Darius Labanauskas and his match-saving 164 checkout to set up a last 32 tie against Ratajski, who is a formidable player away from the cameras but is looking to prove himself on the big stage.
One man who absolutely relishes big matches though is James Wade, who is another man who's had a great year, and he did what he needed to do against Callan Rydz in his opening match, with the Geordie not showing his true self.
He has a tough match-up against Stephen Bunting, who had to battle against Andy Boulton and saw a 3-2 victory out with a clutch 11-darter, and the St Helens man will be right up for it against The Machine.
In the final game of the quarter, Kim Huybrechts will face Ryan Searle off the back of 104 and 101 averages, and the latter took out Ian White in a pulsating encounter.
The Hurricane looks back to his best after a tough few years, and a switch in manufacturer from Unicorn to Bulls seems to have done the trick, but in 'Heavy Metal' Searle he comes up against someone who has taken out a big name on this stage in the past in Suljovic in 2018.
Searle will be full of confidence after defying Jeffrey De Zwaan's nine 180's to win 3-0, but if you go off averages alone then you'd have to fancy Huybrechts. It's never that simple in darts though.
Prediction: Whitlock to defeat Wade in the quarter final
FOURTH QUARTER
Gerwyn Price (3) v Brendan Dolan (30)
Jose De Sousa (14) v Mervyn King (19)
Nathan Aspinall (6) v Vincent van der Voort (27)
Daryl Gurney (11) v Chris Dobey (22)
If you're a Gerwyn Price backer you wouldn't have been convinced by what you saw in him against fellow Welshman Jamie Lewis, and if it wasn't for a bust of 68 in the final set by Lewis then the match could've turned on its head.
Price saw it out though with some clinical checkouts, but a 92 average reflects how poor he played in general, and he could be there for the taking without a crowd.
Brendan Dolan is probably not the man to do that though, The History Maker was throwing noticeably quicker against Edward Foulkes, but if Price can turn it up a notch he should do more than enough to put aside the Northern Irishman.
The rest of the quarter looks really tasty though, and in Jose De Sousa against Mervyn King we get a contest between two in-form specimens.
King was so unlucky to not get past van Gerwen in the Players Championship Finals, whilst De Sousa won his first major at the Grand Slam of Darts by defeating James Wade and is now rightly considered as one of the top players in the world.
One player who showed immense bottle in the second round was Nathan Aspinall, who survived an onslaught, an unbelievable 125 checkout and four missed match doubles from Scott Waites to get through, which will only give him supreme confidence for the rest of the tournament.
The Asp has reached the semi finals twice in his only two World Championship appearances, and he faces a tough, experienced man in the form of Vincent van der Voort in the next round, who actually averaged higher than Aspinall in the previous round.
To round off the quarter we have Daryl Gurney against Chris Dobey, with both showing their true class after encountering tough individual years.
Gurney has dropped out of the top 10 in the world and will be looking to prove his many doubters wrong against 'Hollywood' Dobey, who survived a scare against Jeff Smith to reach round three.
Prediction: De Sousa to defeat Aspinall in the quarter final
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