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Luke Humphries and Ricardo Pietreczko
Luke Humphries and Ricardo Pietreczko

World Grand Prix darts 2024: Day three predictions, odds, betting tips, accas, order of play & TV times

By Chris Hammer
Darts
Thu October 10, 2024 · 2M ago

The second round of the Boylesports World Grand Prix begins on Wednesday night so here's Chris Hammer's match-by-match preview and best bets.

Darts betting tips: World Grand Prix day three

1.5pts Luke Humphries to win, hit most 180s and highest checkout at 5/6 (Paddy Power)

1pt Ross Smith to win and hit most 180s v Jonny Clayton at 5/4 (Sky Bet, Paddy Power)

1pt Ryan Joyce to beat Nathan Aspinall at 11/8 (BetMGM)

SL Acca: 1pt Smith, Joyce (+1.5), Humphries (-1.5) & Schindler (+1.5) all to win at 5/1 with Sky Bet

Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook

World Grand Prix: Wednesday October 9

  • TV Coverage: Sky Sports (1900 GMT)
  • First-Round Format: Best of 5 sets. All sets are the best of five legs. There will be no tie-break in any set. All legs must begin and end with a double, meaning that a player must hit a double before he can begin scoring in each leg.

Nathan Aspinall (4/6) v Ryan Joyce (11/10)

  • Seasonal Average
    Aspinall: 94.28
    Joyce: 93.92
  • 180s per leg in 2024
    Aspinall: 0.25
    Joyce: 0.21
  • Checkout % in 2024
    Aspinall: 36.5%
    Joyce: 43.52%

Nothing against Ryan Searle whatsoever, but it was great to see Nathan Aspinall doing what he does best and displaying his character and battling spirit to win on the big stage after several tough months in his career with injury.

His performance levels have been on the right track and to average almost 93 in 12 legs of double-start is not a bad effort at all, so most fans will expect to him to overcome Ryan Joyce and book his place in the quarter-finals.

Joyce, who is making his first appearance in the World Grand Prix since his 2020 debut where he stunned Peter Wright 2-0 with a 96 average before bowing out 3-2 against Dave Chisnall in a high quality affair, is no stranger to his format due to his north-east roots like Chris Dobey and he shouldn't be underestimated.

His general form is pretty good and even averaged as high as 112 in a Players Championship quarter-final run last week so it wasn't a great surprise to cruise past a lacklustre Josh Rock on opening night.

I just feel he'll stay with Aspinall and give himself enough chances to claim a small upset.

Scoreline prediction: 2-3

CLICK HERE to back Joyce to win with Sky Bet

Rob Cross (8/13) v Martin Schindler (6/5)

  • Seasonal Average
    Cross: 96.61
    Schindler: 95.09
  • 180s per leg in 2024
    Cross: 0.25
    Schindler: 0.29
  • Checkout % in 2024
    Cross: 40.6%
    Schindler: 40.84%

Rob Cross did everyone a favour by taking out tournament favourite and debutant king Luke Littler on opening night and it could be the kind of result he needed to give himself confidence about the double-start format.

Voltage, who has been open about his dreadful track record in this event, impressively held his nerve amidst Littler's barrage of six 180s and a very impressive average of 94 by pinning eight of his 10 attempts at finishing doubles in a superb 2-1 victory.

His next opponent Martin Schindler has largely positive feelings about double-start having reached the quarter-finals 12 months ago and he began his campaign with a very comfortable 2-0 victory over the wiley Brendan Dolan.

The German won a European Tour event last month so his confidence is very high right now and for that reason I'm expecting him to push Cross all the way to a deciding set.

Scoreline prediction: 3-2

Luke Humphries (1/6) v Ricardo Pietreczko (7/2)

  • Seasonal Average
    Humphries: 99.13
    Pietreczko: 89.45
  • 180s per leg in 2024
    Humphries: 0.35
    Pietreczko: 0.14
  • Checkout % in 2024
    Humphries: 41.72%
    Pietreczko: 35.58%

The only way Ricardo Pietreczko can win this match is if Luke Humphries struggles as badly as he did against the German in their epic World Championship clash - and then doesn't produce a herculean comeback.

Humphries also showed some of that character - albeit without the hostile atmosphere - to come back from the brink against Stephen Bunting in round one and that I feel was potentially the biggest hurdle standing in his way of coming through this section of the draw.

With the format getting longer from now on, in addition to the exit of Luke Littler, the journey should actually get more straight forward from here on in. Pietreczko is simply not in his league on any level, while he also lacks the temperament needed for double-start success when the chips are down.

I mean, he even forgot it was double-start at one point during his match with Raymond van Barneveld and that's when he was one set up!

Pietreczko will do well to win a set and I do feel this match is prime for Cool Hand to pull off the 'Match Treble' given his 180 hitting being vastly superior and the fact he'll win the majority of legs.

Scoreline prediction: 3-0

CLICK HERE to back Humphries to win, hit most 180s and highest checkout with Sky Bet

Jonny Clayton (10/11) v Ross Smith (4/5)

  • Seasonal Average
    Clayton: 93.73
    Smith: 96.12
  • 180s per leg in 2024
    Clayton: 0.21
    Smith: 0.38
  • Checkout % in 2024
    Clayton: 39.91%
    Smith: 38.52%

Ross Smith became the first player to average over 100 at the World Grand Prix since Gerwyn Price in the opening round of the 2021 edition as he combined his usual high-scoring power with clinical starting and finishing doubling.

He was 70% on starting doubles and 54% on his checkout percentage but how good will his levels be in the slightly longer format of best of five sets?

He's lost in the second round in each of his last three appearances here, including last year when he'd beaten Jonny Clayton 2-0 in his opener before a sound 3-1 defeat to Joe Cullen.

Clayton may not be the player he was a few season back but the former World Grand Prix champion produced a ruthless performance of old to make light work of Ritchie Edhouse in the first round with an impressive double-start average of 93.

Although we saw the Ferret's 180 finger point as many times as we saw Smith's maximum roars (three), I think we can safely assume it'll be the Englishman who hits most during this length of contest and I also fancy him for the victory.

Scoreline prediction: 1-3

CLICK HERE to back Smith to win and hit most 180s with Sky Bet

World Grand Prix: Tournament Results & Schedule

Monday October 7 (6pm)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports
First Round (Best of three sets)

  • Josh Rock 0-2 Ryan Joyce
  • Brendan Dolan 0-2 Martin Schindler
  • Jonny Clayton 2-0 Ritchie Edhouse
  • Nathan Aspinall 2-1 Ryan Searle
  • Raymond van Barneveld 1-2 Ricardo Pietreczko
  • Luke Humphries 2-1 Stephen Bunting
  • Rob Cross 2-1 Luke Littler
  • Gian van Veen 0-2 Ross Smith

Tuesday October 8 (6pm)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports
First Round (Best of three sets)

  • Dave Chisnall v Cameron Menzies
  • Luke Woodhouse v Dimitri Van den Bergh
  • Mike De Decker v Damon Heta
  • Peter Wright v James Wade
  • Gerwyn Price v Danny Noppert
  • Michael Smith v Gary Anderson
  • Michael van Gerwen v Daryl Gurney
  • Chris Dobey v Joe Cullen

Wednesday October 9 (7pm)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports
Second Round (Best of five sets)

  • Jonny Clayton v Ross Smith
  • Rob Cross v Martin Schindler
  • Luke Humphries v Ricardo Pietreczko
  • Nathan Aspinall v Ryan Joyce

Thursday October 10 (7pm)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports
Second Round (Best of five sets)

  • M Smith/Anderson v De Decker/Heta
  • Price/Noppert v Wright/Wade
  • Van Gerwen/Gurney v Dobey/Cullen
  • Chisnall/Menzies v Woodhouse/Van den Bergh

Friday October 11 (7pm)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports
Quarter-Finals (Best of five sets)

  • Four Matches

Saturday October 12 (7pm)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports
Semi-Finals (Best of seven sets)

  • Two Matches

Sunday October 13 (7pm)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports
Final (Best of nine sets)

  • Winner SF 1 v Winner SF 2

What TV channel is the World Grand Prix on?

The BoyleSports World Grand Prix will be broadcast live on Sky Sports in the UK, through the PDC's worldwide broadcast partners including DAZN and Viaplay, and on PDCTV (excluding UK, Germany, Austria & Switzerland based subscribers).

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