World Grand Prix darts: Wednesday's predictions, odds, betting tips, accas, order of play & TV times

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Due to Adrian Lewis and Stephen Bunting testing positive for Covid-19 yesterday, there will be two unexpected faces taking to the stage at the Ricoh Arena tonight, with replacements Simon Whitlock and Jeffrey de Zwaan facing Chris Dobey and Jamie Hughes respectively.

As Dobey was meant to play Jackpot last night, there will consequently be nine best-of-three set matches instead of eight to complete a first round which has already seen more than its fair share of drama thanks largely to Michael van Gerwen's thrilling win over Krzysztof Ratajski.

World Grand Prix: Wednesday October 7

• TV Coverage: Sky Sports (1900 GMT)
• First round: Best of three sets

SUGGESTED ACCA

• Cullen, Clayton & Wattimena at 18/1
• Sky Bet Price Boost: Wright, Price & Aspinall all to win 2-0 at 7/1 from 6/1
• Click here to build your acca at Sky Bet

Brendan Dolan (10/11) v Kim Huybrechts (10/11)

• Career PDC titles: 7-4 (TV: 0-0)
• Titles this season: 0-0 (TV: 0-0)
• PDC Order of Merit: 31st - 38th
• ProTour Order of Merit: 16th - 30th
• World Grand Prix best: RU (2011) - QF (2016)
• World Grand Prix Wins/Losses: 9/10 - 3/7

Brendan Dolan's revival at the back end of last season gave him the foundation to comfortably qualify for his first World Grand Prix since a run of nine consecutive appearances in Dublin ended in 2016.

The 2011 runner-up, who hit the tournament's first nine-darter during that history-making run, followed up his two Players Championship titles in 2019 with a run to a final just before lockdown in March and the only thing he'll be disappointed about is the fact his favourite major is now in Coventry.

Kim Huybrechts, by contrast, qualified in 'last' position via the ProTour list following a scrappy 12 months with few highlights while he's traditionally struggled with this format in years gone by having won just three matches in seven previous attempts.

Prediction: 2-0

Suggested bet: Dolan to win 2-0 at 5/2

Jonny Clayton (10/11) v Ian White (10/11)

• Career PDC titles: 3-13 (TV: 0-0)
• Titles this season: 0-1 (TV: 0-0)
• PDC Order of Merit: 18th - 12th
• ProTour Order of Merit: 19th - 7th
• World Grand Prix best: R1 (2018, 2019) - QF (2015, 2019)
• World Grand Prix Wins/Losses: 0/2 - 6/8

Of Ian White's nine major quarter-final appearances in a career that has yet to show the masses what he can really do, two of them have come in the World Grand Prix, including last year's edition.

However, his current dip in form away from the TV cameras - when it's usually so good - means this is perhaps the first major in quite some time when people aren't talking up his chances about finally ending his major duck.

For a player that seems to struggle on the big stage, this may be a blessing in disguise although he'll need to play somewhere near his best if he's to see off Jonny Clayton.

The Ferret, who has never gone beyond the first round in this double-start tournament, but he beat Peter Wright en route to the recent German Darts Championship final and seems to have hit form at the right time.

Prediction: 2-1

Suggested bet: Match to have over 8.5 legs, highest checkout to be over 100.5 and over 2.5 total 180s at 1/1

Dave Chisnall (5/4) v Glen Durrant (8/13)

• Career PDC titles: 15-2 (TV: 0-0)
• Titles this season: 0-0 (TV: 0-0)
• PDC Order of Merit: 10th - 13th
• ProTour Order of Merit: 12th - 11th
• World Grand Prix best: RU (2013, 2019) - SF (2019)
• World Grand Prix Wins/Losses: 16/9 - 3/1

Dave Chisnall may well be widely known for his 180 prowess but he must also go down as one of the best double-start players never to have won the World Grand Prix.

He came up against imperious displays from Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen in both of his finals while he's reached a semi-final, quarter-final and only crashed out in the first round twice during his nine previous appearances.

Chizzy has also upped his game on the ProTour circuit after initially struggling post restart so this is going to be a tougher test for Glen Durrant than it would have been around a month ago.

As I wrote in my outright preview, Duzza does have experience of double-start darts locally in the North East and that undoubtedly helped him reach the semi-finals on debut and his iron mental strength will stand him in good stead even more in this major than others. As he's one of my outright tips, I have to stick with him here.

Prediction: 1-2

Suggested bet: Duzza to win but Chizzy to hit most 180s at 9/4

Daryl Gurney (4/7) v Joe Cullen (11/8)

• Career PDC titles: 5-3 (TV: 2-0)
• Titles this season: 0-0 (TV: 0-0)
• PDC Order of Merit: 7th - 21th
• ProTour Order of Merit: 18th - 18th
• World Grand Prix best: Winner (2017) - R2 (2017)
• World Grand Prix Wins/Losses: 10/6 - 3/1

I'd go as far as saying that Daryl Gurney is one of the continually underrated top 10 players in darts history even though he's won two majors - including this one - and reached 10 other big televised semi-finals.

He obviously tends to save his best for these kind of stages which is really what Joe Cullen needs to do more of if he's to realise his potential and push towards the top 10.

The Rockstar has only managed to win one match of World Grand Prix darts in four successive appearances but this isn't much of a surprise considering he once admitted that he predominantly practices his trebling rather than doubles.

However, Cullen has come into some excellent form on the ProTour circuit - reaching a final and a semi-final during the Autumn Series - and combined with his demon-banishing victory over Ian White at the World Matchplay, I think he could upset the odds in this one.

So there you go, another unfair example of Gurney being underrated!

Prediction: 1-2

Suggested bet: Cullen to win 2-1 at 7/2

Peter Wright (1/6) v Ryan Joyce (4/1)

• Career PDC titles: 32-1 (TV: 7-0)
• Titles this season: 4-1 (TV: 1-0)
• PDC Order of Merit: 2nd - 40th
• ProTour Order of Merit: 2nd - 25th
• World Grand Prix best: RU (2018) - Debut
• World Grand Prix Wins/Losses: 8/8 - Debut

All logical signs obviously point to Peter Wright here although you could argue that no player that's done well enough to qualify should be as big as 4/1 to win a best-of-three set match of double-start darts!

That's the only reason I'm siding with World Grand Prix debutant Ryan Joyce, who should have more experience of this format than you'd initially think considering how popular Paul Nicholson said it is in the North East during his recent column for Sporting Life.

The affable Geordie won his maiden ProTour title during the Summer Series to qualify for his first World Matchplay and although he's lost that kind of form since his first-round exit to Simon Whitlock in Milton Keynes, he's still able to pull off a shock like anyone in the field.

I'm not expecting it, but 4/1 is big for Snakebite to lose in the opening round for the fifth time in nine appearances.

Prediction: 1-2

Suggested bet: Joyce to win at 4/1

Gerwyn Price (2/9) v Jermaine Wattimena (10/3)

• Career PDC titles: 14-0 (TV: 3-0)
• Titles this season: 5-0 (TV: 1-0)
• PDC Order of Merit: 2nd - 23rd
• ProTour Order of Merit: 1st - 20th
• World Grand Prix best: QF (2018) - QF (2019)
• World Grand Prix Wins/Losses: 3/5 - 3/2

For similar reasons as above, you might want to think about the upset potential in this clash that won't last long even if it goes the distance.

Trying to cope with the pressure of doubling-in must be more of a nightmare as usual when the fast-throwing Machine Gun gets going and so it proved for both Adrian Lewis and Peter Wright last year as he reached the quarter-finals before losing a deciding set to Glen Durrant.

Gerwyn Price is obviously vying for the unofficial 'best player in the world' tag right now but he has a poor record in the World Grand Prix and last year's defeat to Dave Chisnall was his third first-round exit.

Again, I'm not saying I expect Price to lose, but Wattimena's odds are generous in this format.

Prediction: 1-2

Suggested bet: Match to have over 8.5 legs, highest checkout to be over 97.5 and over 2.5 total 180s at 13/8

Nathan Aspinall (2/5) v Gabriel Clemens (2/1)

• Career PDC titles: 26-0 (TV: 9-0)
• Titles this season: 0-0 (TV: 0-0)
• PDC Order of Merit: 6th - 36th
• ProTour Order of Merit: 5th - 22nd
• World Grand Prix best: QF (2019) - Debut
• World Grand Prix Wins/Losses: 2/1 - Debut

Darts fans will look at this one as upset potential given how rising star Gabriel Clemens is so highly regarded but the Gentle Giant has been out of form recently and this format should play into the hands of a player like Nathan Aspinall.

The Asp's all-round ability and mental strength helped him reach the quarter-finals on his World Grand Prix debut 12 months ago and even during his 3-1 defeat to Dave Chisnall he averaged 93.

I'd have probably backed Aspinall to win the title had his odds not been quite so short so I'm going to tip him to ease through here in straight sets. Sod's law this will now be the shock of the night!

Prediction: 2-0

Suggested bet: Nathan Aspinall to win the match, score over 1.5 180s and checkout over 81.5 at 11/8

Jamie Hughes (10/11) v Jeffrey de Zwaan (10/11)

• Career PDC titles: 1-2 (TV: 0-0)
• Titles this season: 0-0 (TV: 0-0)
• PDC Order of Merit: 33rd - 25th
• ProTour Order of Merit: 26th - 31st
• World Grand Prix best: Rd1 (2019) - Rd2 (2018, 2019)
• World Grand Prix Wins/Losses: 0/1 - 2/2

I was finding it hard enough to pick the winner between Jamie Hughes and Stephen Bunting - and this new revised first-round match isn't any easier.

In fact the bookies can't even decide as both players head into the tournament on the back of very mediocre runs of form since the restart.

Obviously Hughes has the advantage of being better prepared although de Zwaan does at least have the experience of winning two matches of World Grand Prix darts in the past and will view this as a bonus opportunity due to the circumstances.

I'll give the edge to the Tipton man but there's not really much to go off.

Prediction: 2-1

Simon Whitlock (6/5) v Chris Dobey (4/6)

• Career PDC titles: 22-0 (TV: 1-0)
• Titles this season: 0-0 (TV: 0-0)
• PDC Order of Merit: 17th - 19th
• ProTour Order of Merit: 34th - 29th
• World Grand Prix best: RU (2017) - SF (2019)
• World Grand Prix Wins/Losses: 11/10 - 3/1

Simon Whitlock obviously comes into this tournament at the 11th hour due to Adrian Lewis' misfortune and it's hard to gage exactly whether this has a detrimental impact on Chris Dobey or not.

The Wizard won't have been mentally and practically preparing for this after missing out on qualification but on the plus side he'll feel like he has nothing to lose in what his very much now a bonus major for him.

Nevertheless, I talked up the chances of the 2019 semi-finalist in my outright preview and so for those reasons I'm siding with the start of a potential Hollywood story.

Prediction: 0-2

Click here for full 2020 World Grand Prix draw and schedule

Related links

• 2020 World Grand Prix draw and schedule
• 2020 Premier League fixtures & results
• 2020 PDC event calendar & results
• 2020 World Darts Championship results
• 2019 PDC event results
• Sky Bet's darts odds

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