PDC World Darts Championship: Day 3 Betting Tips - Evening Session

Jeffrey de Graaf vs Rashad Sweeting

Jeffrey de Graaf reached the last 32 at the World Championships last year, beating Richie Edhouse and Jose De Sousa in the opening rounds.

He hasn't had the greatest of seasons but he did have a good run to the last 16 at the Players Championship Finals in November, beating Ryan Searle and Thibault Tricole on route. He topped the PDC Nordic and Baltic Tour to qualify for his 4th appearance at Alexandra Palace.

Rashad Sweeting will make history this year as the first player from the Bahamas to play in a PDC World Championship. He qualified after he topped the Championship Darts Latin America and Caribbean Order of Merit.

He won two tournaments on that tour this year but the standard wasn't the best and he has a seasonal average of just 75.12. Whatever happens here it will be a momentous occasion for him and the Bahamas. 

Jeffrey de Graaf has probably been handed the kindest first-round draw of the tournament and should have far too much quality in this contest and unless Rashad Sweeting dramatically improves on his seasonal average then I expect de Graaf to win with ease.

Ricardo Pietreczko vs Xiaochen Zong

It's been a very stop-start season for Ricardo Pietreczko, wins have been hard to come by consistently and that shows in his seasonal average of 90.08 and a win percentage of just 43%.

He has had some success this season reaching a final on the Euro Tour at the Flanders Darts Trophy and then reaching the Quarter Final of the European Championships. His Inconsistency has shown throughout the season though, highlighted by not qualifying for the Grand Slam or the Players Championship Finals.

12 months ago he probably should have beaten eventual World Champion Luke Humphries but he succumbed to a late surge from ‘Cool Hand’. 

Xiaochen Zong qualified for his 4th PDC World Championship after winning the Chinese Premier League. His stats in that event were really impressive with a running average of 88.87 winning 86% of his games. He has failed to win a game in his previous 3 appearances but he did play well against Mickey Mansell last year, losing 3-0 but certainly had his chances.

Zong has represented China 4 times at the World Cup and has played in the World Youth Championships 3 times. He hit the first ever 9 darter on stream in the 2023 PDC China Pro Tour. He's certainly improving as a player and at just 26 he looks like a real prospect for Chinese Darts. 

This is a really interesting match and I wouldn't be surprised if we see an upset here. Pietreczko’s form is a real concern for me but he may well have too much for Zong.

However, the odds are way too big for me and I think the Chinese star could take advantage of the inconsistent German and win his first game at Ally Pally.

Peter Wright vs Wesley Plaisier

Peter Wright is a two-time champion here but his recent form is nowhere near that level right now and if you're a Wright fan you will be very concerned.

He really struggled in the Premier League earlier in the year finishing bottom of the table, winning just 2 out of 18 games. His poor form has continued throughout the year, especially the last few months where he's failed to win a match in the last 4 Majors.

At the Grand Slam he lost all 3 group games and failed to average over 90 in any of them. With a win percentage of just 48% this season he’s going to have to improve quickly otherwise he will rapidly continue to plummet down the World Rankings. ‘Snakebite’ lost at this stage last year to Jim Williams and he’ll be desperate for that not to repeat itself against the talented Dutchman.

Wesley Plaisier will be disappointed with his first-round performance, only averaging 82.56 in a 3-2 victory over Ryusei Azemoto. He did hit 3 180s though and upped his game in set 4 averaging 98.60. It was his debut though and I expect him to improve today now he's settled his nerves.

It's always tough at the moment to predict a Peter Wright match because you really don't know what ‘Snakebite’ will turn up. I never like to rule him out as quite clearly his darting ability is sky high but it's just whether he's now on a continued downward spiral or it's just a bad season.

Plaisier did not settle very well yesterday at all but he managed to scrape through and he will without doubt be better today. I expect him to score much better and I think the safe option here is to look at the 180 odds as Plaisier is a power scorer when he's on it.