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Maik Kuivenhoven v Ky Smith

Ky Smith is in this event with his father Raymond who was impressive in beating Jamie Hughes yesterday. Naturally, they’ve been practising together and if that’s rubbed off on him he has a real chance to progress here.

He qualified through the Oceanic Masters with an event average of 82.75. He’ll need to improve on that but clearly can as he was much better in the final of the event averaging 94.26 in beating Bailey Marsh 6-2 in the final.

His opponent is the Dutchman Kuivenhoven who is making his second appearance in this event. He was very poor last year in his opening round 3-0 defeat to Matthew Edgar averaging just 81.00 and looking very nervous.

He himself is better than that and has a seasonal average of 91.49 and has won a respectable 55% of matches this year. He is a bit in and out at times so although he’s the favourite he’s also a bit of a risky proposition too.

He has had a couple of confidence boosting victories on stage this year defeating Boris Koltsov in the UK Open and John Henderson although he was no match for Michael Van Gerwen and Raymond Van Barneveld in those televised games.

With all due respect to Ky Smith he’s not facing players of that calibre here so take his experience to count and get the victory here.

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Jason Heaver v Gordon Mathers

Australian Mathers is a lucky reserve who wouldn’t have been here were it not for visa and COVID issues for some players who had already qualified. He’s however and he’ll see this as a winnable opportunity.

He’s appeared here twice before and he’s yet to win a match having lost to Seigo Asada in 2018 and Max Hopp last year with a disappointing performance.

He failed to come through the qualifiers, losing to Nick Kenny in the final match. It was a surprise he did that well as he went into that on a run of eight consecutive losses and has faded this year after a relatively bright start.

Heaver has finished the season much the stronger winning ten of his last seventeen matches. He’s had a bit of a blip in the summer months struggling to find wins but prior to that he showed his quality with a run to a Semi-Final on the floor before finding Jonny Clayton to good.

There’s not much between these two on seasonal averages and it’s Heaver who just about edges that at 90.59 compared to Mathers 90.05. They’ve met once this year and in that occasion it was Heaver who prevailed 6-4. I think a similar result will occur here and the bookmakers have this just about priced up right.

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Alan Soutar v Diogo Portela

Portela is a regular qualifier for this event through the Central/South America qualifier and there was emotional scenes when he defeated a somewhat out of sorts Steve Beaton 3-0 on the opening night last year. He was no match for Glen Durrant however in the second round, going down 3-0.

The Brazilian barely had to break sweat to advance through that event and is head and shoulders above his counterparts in all honesty in that field but he’ll find ‘Soots’ a much tougher proposition here.

The Scot found his feet relatively quickly on tour this year after winning his tour card in January, winning twenty of his first twenty six matches and whilst he’s not been as formidable of late he’s still playing at a decent level regularly averaging in the 90’s.

He had a good run at the UK Open in March in front of the cameras beating the likes of

Raymond Van Barneveld and Stephen Bunting before losing to Dave Chisnall 10-8 in the last 16 in a high quality match.

In addition to the abuses he’s picked up some notable scalps on the floor this year too with victories over Adrian Lewis, Peter Wright, Nathan Aspinall to name just a few.

His seasonal average of 94.23 is excellent and would suggest if he turns up and plays to that standard he’ll win here. There’s nothing to suggest he won’t from what we’ve seen so I expect him to do so with a bit to spare.

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Stephen Bunting v Ross Smith

No doubt thus us the match of the afternoon session with two players very much in form this year.

Bunting a former BDO World Champion struggled for a few years but rolled back the years as he reached the Semi-Finals here last year. He come through some tight encounters defeating Andy Boulton, James Wade, Ryan Searle and Krzysztof Ratajski before finding just Gerwyn Price too good.

He’s built on that in 2021 by claiming a title on the floor this year when he won Players Championship 17 which included big victories over Gerwyn Price and Dimitri Van Den Bergh. More recently he also had a good run to the Semi-Final of the World Grand Prix where like in this event last year he was defeated by Price.

2021 has also been a good year for Ross Smith, who claimed his maiden PDC title by winning Players Championship 19 and losing another two finals on top.

He’s not been quite as good on TV this year getting no further than a second round in any event he’s played. That was also the stage he was eliminated in this event last year to the in-form José De Sousa.

He’s already come through one game here, defeating Jeff Smith 3-0 in the opening round. He didn’t have to be at his best to advance there averaging in the eighties. He was clearly frustrated with his performance during that match. He is however a big 180 hitter but so can Bunting be on his day. From a betting perspective I expect to see a glut of them here so taking the over count in the 180’s in what could be a five setter is the way to go.

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Martijn Kleermaker v John Michael

Kleermaker qualified for this event last year but had to withdraw due to testing positive for COVID. He’ll be hoping history doesn’t repeat itself here when he had to withdraw on the day of his proposed match.

The giant Dutchman is a speedster and is actually very easy on the eye to watch with a nice fluent throw. He reacted is maiden PDC final on the floor this year where he lost a tight game to his Dutch compatriot Dirk Van Duijvenbode 8-6.

He’s dropped off a bit recently though and he’s won just five of his last eighteen matches. The big concern for him is not his scoring it’s his doubling which can be erratic at times, only hitting 23% of his doubles on stage in 2021.

Greek arrow-smith John Michael came through the South East Europe qualifier to feature here beating Michael Rasztovits 6-3 in the final averaging 91.30. He’s a tour card holder in his own right but it’s fair to say he’s not had a prosperous campaign winning just 13 matches all year. 

Reading that build up you’d think Kleermaker would be a convincing selection but he’s not his doubling leaves me worried and Michael is very capable on his day with victories over Ryan Searle, Martin Schindler, Ross Smith and Steve Beaton an example of this.

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Florian Hempel v Martin Schindler

A battle of two Germans who on their day can be very good players and a match for anyone. Schindler has been around a number of years and is the more well known player of the two.

He was widely tipped as a potential live outsider for the recent Grand Slam of Darts after qualifying for that event but was eliminated before he defeated Gerwyn Price in the final group game.

He comes into this in relatively good form. He’s won 34 of his last 50 matches and has registered a 100+ average on 19 occasions in 2021. He’s a good 180 hitter when on song averaging them at 0.28 per leg over the course of the year.

His opponent is a former professional handball player and he’s also shown is very adept at this game. He didn’t kick his season off until April but he’s made up for lost time. He came through all three Euro Tour qualifiers that were held, reached the Semi-Final of Players Championship event 27 and beat Peter Wright in front of the TV cameras at the European Championships.

He’s averaging 93.91 for the year which is nearly a couple of points lower than Schindler and he hits 180’s at a rate of 0.26 per leg.

This game is very difficult to call but the experience of Schindler may just be the difference. I’m not going to go for the match win however. I’m going to hope Schindler had his scoring boots on.

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Steve Beaton v Fallon Sherrock

This is a match between two fans favourites, the Bronzed Adonis vs The Queen of the Palace.

Sherrock return to Ally Pally for the first time in two years since her heroics in the 2020 when Rod Studd famously said she’d smashed the glass ceiling.

If that was outstanding she’s arguably playing even better now. She reached the final of the Nordic Darts Masters losing 11-7 to Michael Van Gerwen notably beating Dimitri Van Den Bergh 11-10 by virtue of an amazing comeback.

That was surpassed even further at the Grand Slam of Darts where she beat Mike De Decker, Gabriel Clemens and Mensur Suljovic before losing 16-13 to Peter Wright in the Quarter-Finals.

In both those aforementioned defeats she pushed two of the best in the World all the way. She just seems to keep improving and come alive on the big stage. There’s a clamber for her potentially to be included in the Premier League next year and a good run here would aide that.

Beaton a former BDO World Champion is up against it here. He continues to produce a decent performance or run here and there and his silky smooth throw looks as good as ever. He is however possibly in the twilight years when it comes to his darting career.

He lost in this round last year and performed poorly. His seasonal average is 90.97 which is OK but he’s out of form winning just 5 of his last 21 matches. He’s not a power scorer, hitting 180’s at 0.19 per leg and he’ll struggle to match Sherrock in that respect here. I can see another famous victory here for Fallon.

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Jonny Clayton v Keane Barry

Jonny Clayton is the form player of 2021 having won the Masters, Premier League, World Grand Prix and World Series of Darts finals plus two further titles on the floor. He really is playing the darts of his life.

During 2021 he’s averaged 98.49 and won 76% of the matches he’s played, boasting a terrific doubles percentage of 42%. His counting at times can be a little off but that’s the only weakness he possess at present but more often than not he’s out performing his opponent.

He’s not been at his brilliant best the last few matches but even then he’s only lost to players performing outstandingly or a top echelon player themselves.

Barry came through a tight game with with Royden Lam 3-2 in the opening round but he’ll be somewhat miffed by his performance averaging just 83.59 in a match that went deep and in which he looked nervier as the game went on.

His seasonal average of 91.54 leaves him with something to find here and the pair recently met where Clayton won 6-3 averaging some eight points than him. He’s a too prospect who’s been given the big billing for several years now but he’s never looked at ease on the Ally Pally stage.

Clayton should win with something to spare here.

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