On Day 8 of the World Championship, we have another session of second-round matches to look forward to. Opening up the night, we have ‘Heavy Metal’ Ryan Searle against Matt Campbell, who was very impressive in his first-round match.
Next is the resurgent Dutchman Dirk Van Duijvenbode against Latvian Madars Razma. Joe Cullen will be desperate for a run here, but he faces an extremely tough game with Wessel Nijman. Rounding off the day, newly crowned European Champion Ritchie Edhouse will play Ian White.
The big-scoring Englishman, Ryan Searle returns to the Palace for his 7th appearance. He boasts a solid record here, reaching the last 16 on 3 occasions. He’s not had the best of years on TV this season with 2x last 16s his best at the Matchplay and European Championships.
‘Heavy Metal’ has shown he's still in great form on big stages though as he’s made it to the Quarter Final or better 8 times in 13 events on the European Tour and also should have won the Swiss Darts Trophy where he missed multiple match darts.
In the Players Championship floor events he started the season in dazzling form with 3 finals on the trot including winning PC3. He backed that up with another final at PC18 and had a further 4 quarter-finals or better to round off his season.
Luke Littler lies in wait in the last 16 should they both progress that far but Searle is a tough draw for anybody and if he sharpens up on his finishing he’ll be extremely dangerous.
Matt Campbell showed his grit and quality to squeeze his way past the experienced Austrian Mensur Suljovic 3-2 in the first round. He averaged 93.31 and hit 4 180s but as impressive as that was it probably should have been better.
His timing was brilliant, winning the third set 3-0 with a 121.86 average and the final set 3-0 when he needed it most. He went off the boil at times and will need to keep his concentration better if he's to get past Ryan Searle here but he certainly showed what he is capable of.
This match all depends on how the Canadian performs, if he holds himself better than he did at times in the first round and stays consistent he will cause Searle some problems.
However, Ryan Searle always seems to play well at Ally Pally and he's not lost a second-round game at the World Championships in his career.
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The Big Dutchman’s career looked in jeopardy this time last year as he was battling with a shoulder injury. However, He’s shown remarkable tenacity this season and looks very close to being back to his best after reaching the Quarter Final of the European Championships and the Semi Final in the recent Players Championship Finals.
A final and two semi-finals on the floor this year, with a seasonal average of 94.82 is also very solid.
‘The Titan’ has fallen out the top 16 now and failed to qualify for both the Matchplay and the Grand Prix this season because of his injury but now back fighting fit he looks ready to resurrect his career and climb back up the rankings. A former Quarter Finalist here in 2021, he's been drawn into a favourable section of the draw that features Stephen Bunting and Damon Heta so he could well go on to the Quarter Finals once again.
Madars Razma showed his class and concentration to come through a first-round match against 9-dart hero Christian Kist. He won 3-1 after losing the first set, averaging 90.65 with 5 180s and a 50% checkout rate.
The Latvian is always extremely solid and that poses a problem for any opponent he faces. He made the last 32 here last year and if he ups his average a bit he will cause Dirk problems.
I expect a good standard from both of these players, Dirks is in great form and Razma has already had a good performance on that stage. I think the big-scoring Dutchman will be too strong though but I think Razma nicks a set.
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Joe Cullen is without doubt one of the seeds in big danger as he’s coming here completely out of form. He has a seasonal average of 90.77 and a win ratio of just 45%. A very strange season from the ‘Rockstar’ and he's coming here having lost 9 of his last 12 matches on tour.
He’s slipped to number 23 in the world rankings and with an early exit here he will drop even more. Worrying times if you're a Cullen fan but he has shown glimpses of his usual form this year, with a Quarter Final in the World Grand Prix and a final of the Austrian Darts Open.
He has played well at Ally Pally the last few years and is of course highly experienced so he’ll need to lean on that today if he's to progress any further here.
Wessel Nijman came through an epic tussle with Cameron Carolissen 3-2 in the first round. He averaged 94.83 and hit 7 180s to defy a brilliant display from the South African.
The Dutchman showed the world he can play under extreme pressure and that's exactly why he's a dark horse in this tournament and has so much hype around him.
From 2-0 up in sets to then having to break throw in a deciding leg to stay in the tournament, he handled it impressively and averaged 103.31 in the final set.
The only saving grace for Joe Cullen here is that he does seem to always get up for a game at Ally Pally that he's the underdog in.
I think it's going to be a very difficult night for the ‘Rockstar’ and if he is to get anything out of this game it's probably got to go 5 sets. Nijman just looks so impressive and I can't see past the young Dutchman here.
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Ritchie Edhouse became a surprise winner of a major this season after his spectacular run to the title at the European Championships. He beat Gian Van Veen, Michael Smith and Gary Anderson en route, so he certainly earned it.
‘Madhouse’ has had two Semi-Finals in the Players Championship floor events this year and two Quarter Finals on the European Tour. A win percentage of 64% is great form and he’ll be looking to do some damage here.
Ritchie hasn't got the best record at Ally Pally failing to make it past the 2nd round in 4 attempts. He has also thrown two games away in the last few years, missing multiple match darts.
It's amazing what the confidence of winning a Major title does to players though and he should feel like a completely different player at this year's World Championships.
Ian White is a seasoned veteran on the PDC circuit and has had a lot of success, however, he looks to be on the decline and unfortunately for him, he hasn't got a great record at the World Championship.
He did reach the Quarter Finals in 2014 but other than that run he’s failed to get past the third round in his other 11 appearances, including a shock first-round loss last year 3-1 against Tomoya Goto.
We’ve not seen a lot of him on TV lately although he did have a great performance beating Michael Van Gerwen in the first round at the Players Championship Finals 6-1 with a 102.69. He followed that up with a 6-0 defeat to Mike De Decker and only averaged 76.13, highlighting the inconsistency in the once extremely reliable Ian White.
He got through to the second round after Sandro Eric Sosing had to withdraw on medical grounds.
I wouldn't worry too much about Edhouse’s record at Alexandra Palace as like I said, he's a completely different player now and I expect him to come through this match fairly comfortably and progress to the next round.
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James is a former professional dart player who enjoys writing about darts, golf and football. In 2012, he was crowned the PDC World Youth Champion and these days, he puts his expertise to use with betting tips for BettingLounge readers.