The darts returns after a three day break for the Christmas festivities. Thirty two players remain in the hunt for the Sid Waddell trophy as we move into the third round. Matches are now up to Best of Seven sets for the next two rounds and our darts expert previews the action.

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Ross Smith vs Dirk Van Duijvenbode

The first game at Ally Pally should be a decent encounter between two players who love to find the red bit.

Dirk Van Duijvenbode is statistically the most prolific 180 hitter on the circuit as his seasonal record of 0.38 per leg would suggest but Ross Smith is also an excellent 180 hitter and his rate of 0.32 per leg isn’t far behind the top three.

What should aid the selection further is that this match should have plenty of legs in it as it really is a tight game to call with the bookies struggling to separate the pair.

Both players have been in the winners enclosure this year. Smith won Players Championship event nineteen and Van Duijvenbode won the eleventh event of this tour.

If this was taking place last year I’d have probably favourited the Dutchman who reached the Quarter-Final on the back of a strong end to 2020. This year however I’d edge towards Smith who’s looked the slightly better performer of late. The safer proposition however is to go for a game full of maximums.

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Michael Smith vs William O’Connor

Michael ‘Bully Boy’ Smith recorded the highest average of the tournament at 106.32 when he defeated Ron Meulenkamp 3-0 in the second round with the minimum of fuss.

He faces William O’Connor who also came through the second round with little trouble, defeating an out of sorts Glen Durrant 3-0; with an opening leg 170 checkout which helped knocked the stuffing out of a spirited start by ‘Duzza’.

His first round game was much more of test when he had to come through a terrific encounter with exciting American talent Danny Lauby Jnr 3-2 with a 96 average.

Irishman O’Connor is definitely capable of causing a few issues for Smith but it’s almost as if the Englishman has a point to prove this year after losing to Jason Lowe in the second round and being omitted from the Premier League.

The head to head certainly favours him too. He leads that 7-1 and has won both contests in 2021. When he produces his A game there’s not many who can live with him and if he replicates his performance from his opening game he should have too much for the ‘Magpie’ here by a set or two at least.

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Florian Hempel vs Raymond Smith

The afternoon’s action concludes in a match between two players that many wouldn’t have predicted would’ve reached this stage but you have to say both have been very efficient in getting here.

Australian Smith defeated Jamie Hughes 3-1 in the opening game with a 94.84 average in a very good match. He then didn’t have to be at his best in his second round match against the seed Devon Petersen who’s disappointing campaign ended with a whimper. Nonetheless it was still a professional display from Smith.

Professional is also a term you would use to describe the German Hempels performance as he caused the biggest shock of the Worlds so far to defeat Dimitri Van Den Bergh 3-1 in the second round.

That also built upon a polished performance against his German compatriot Martin Schindler in the open round who he defeated 3-0.

One strong aspect of his game has been his finishing. In his last match he came to the oche ten times on a finish of 104 or less. He checked out on nine occasions.

This will likely be Smiths toughest assignment so far and I think Hempel, who’s already come through two tough tests will be victorious with his finishing being the difference here.

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The EVENING treble ⬇️

James Wade vs Vincent Van Der Voort

James was very underwhelming in his opening match as he defeated Maik Kuivenhoven 3-1 despite averaging just 83.74. I have long been of the opinion that set play should suit ‘The Machine’ but this three time semi-finalist has never quite been capable of getting past this point and reaching his maiden World Championship final.

Van Der Voort is a dual Quarter-Finalist himself in this event and is capable of causing an upset here. The scoreline of his opening success – 3-0 against Adam Hunt looks – as if he won with relative ease but he was under the cosh early on from Hunt who had numerous opportunities but he couldn’t take them.

Wade, the number four seed for this event won the UK Open back in March and has enjoyed somewhat of a resurgence the last few years, climbing back up the rankings rather effectively.

Both these are regulars in the PDC World Championships and as a result they’ve actually met twice in this event previously. On both occasions they’ve met at the Last 32 stage and the scoreline has been the same, 4-0 to Wade.

Overall, the head to head favour him 16-7 and but it’s Van Der Voort who won their solitary meeting this year. Under pressure Van Der Voort can be a little suspect and I expect a different Wade to win here to confirm his superiority.

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Gerwyn Price vs Kim Huybrechts

Defending champion Gerwyn Price produced a solid display in his opening match as he defeated Ritchie Edhouse 3-1 averaging 101.28. The scoreline was perhaps a bit flattering as he looked a bit susceptible at one point in the third set.

He survived a few scares en-route to winning the title last year with last set victories over Jamie Lewis, Brendan Dolan and Daryl Gurney and similar could be on the cards here.

His opponent here is Belgian Kim Huybrechts and he couldn’t have been less impressive in defeating Steve Beaton 3-1, averaging just 88.71.

It’s fair to say his preparation was not good as he experienced travel issues following the introduction of new restrictions at the French border meaning he had to turn back and re-plan his journey and method of travel to England.

In light of his struggles, it was interesting to note that he proposed to stay here over the festive break to ensure this didn’t happen again. In his post match interview he said he would practice and practice during his down time and vowed that a different Kim Huybrechts would turn up to face Gerwyn Price.

He has been in decent form of late so that opening performance came as a bit of a shock. He actually boasts the superior head to head record at 5-4 so although I’m not tipping him to win I suspect he’s good enough to get get a couple of sets in the bag.

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Jonny Clayton vs Gabriel Clemens

Welshman Clayton has enjoyed a fabulous year winning the Masters, World Grand Prix and Premier League and comes into this as one of the main contenders for the title.

He was pushed all the way in a classic second round encounter as he defeated exciting young prospect Keane Barry 3-2 rattling off a stunning late rally to show his credentials.

Standing in his way here is Gabriel Clemens who defeated Lewy Williams 3-0 in his opening game averaging just 86.29. His Welsh opponent should’ve won the first leg but didn’t and let that get to him.

He only averaged 75.12 in a performance that was poles apart from his opening round success and he missed a multitude of double attempts. Clemens certainly got a bit lucky at times.

He defeated defending champion Peter Wright in the 2021 World Championships in a terrific match and you’d suspect he’d have to replicate that showing here against ‘The Ferret’ to stand any chance of advancing here. There’s not much to choose between these two on the 180 front with Clemens marginally the stronger hitter of them over the course of 2021. He looked particularly good in his opening round when landing the first treble and on the handicap he could win that market, against prolific 140 hitter Clayton.

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