Former two time PDC World Champion Gary Anderson takes to the stage this evening and he faces the unseeded Latvian Madars Razma in the Last 64.

We don’t see the Scot as much as many of the other big stars throughout the year as he’s quite selective these days with the tournaments he plays. He does however seem to save his best for the PDC World Championships where he’s reached the Quarter Final or better in 9 of his previous 13 appearances in this event, during which time he’s never lost to an unseeded player.

These pair actually met at this stage of this event in 2021 and it was Anderson who prevailed 3-1 on that occasion despite Razma giving him lots to think about. He just seemed to have that slight too much class and experience during that meeting.

Madars Razma won his opening match at this year’s event 3-1 against Indian Qualifier Prakash Jiwa with an average of 89.30. He improved a significant amount in the final set to beat an opponent he was expected to but for long periods of that game he was outplayed by Jiwa and if that happens here I don’t see him getting away with it.

Despite not being at his best this year, every now and then the real Gary Anderson shows up. He’s managed to reach two finals this year, one of those on TV at the Nordic Darts Masters and he’s still managed to average 100+ in 28 of the 83 matches he played this season. Razma on the other hand has achieved this feat just 10 times from 117 matches and only once in his last 40 games.
Take Anderson to continue his excellent record in this event, probably by a similar scoreline to their previous clash on this stage.

Florian Hempel was one of the surprise packages in this event twelve months ago claiming the notable scalp of Dimitri Van Den Bergh at this stage of the tournament. He was very much in form then but the same can’t be said with the same confidence right now.

Humphries however is enjoying a terrific 2022. Up to number 5 in the World currently he’s won 5 titles this year including 4 Euro Tours and the last three televised we’ve recently seen he’s reached a Quarter-Final and two Semi-Finals. He also loves this event and has reached three Quarter-Finals in the last four years.

Part of his strength is his 180 hitting. Throughout 2023 he’s hit them at 0.32 per leg, one every three legs which is higher than that of his opponent at 0.23 per leg, one every four legs roughly.
During this year he’s hit more 180’s than his opponent in 56% of matches played, something Hempel has managed in just 36% of his matches.

Hempel did notch up an impressive tally of 7 maximums in his first round victory over Keegan Brown but that was a bit of an outlier as he’s only hit 4 or more in a match in 14 of the 79 games he’s played this year, whereas Humphries has done so in 57 of his 157 matches he’s played.

If Humphries finds the range of the red bit he could hit a plethora of maximums over this best of five set match.

Dirk Van Duijvenbode is the biggest hitter of maximums in World Darts at the moment. His 180 per leg ratio is 0.38 per leg, which equates to just over one every two and a half legs. This is best demonstrated by him hitting 11 maxi’s in 19 legs of darts recently at the Players Championship Finals.

That game is notable as his opponent on that occasion was none other than Ryan Searle who also forms part of this bet. In response Ryan hit 10 maximums himself in what was arguably one of the games of the season. Searle has a 180 per leg ratio of 0.25 per leg during 2022, one every four legs but when he finds his rhythm, his 180 prowess improves considerably.

Now Mike De Decker is probably a little unknown to plenty but is a player on the up this year. This will be a little surprising to many but he’s the fifth best maximum hitter of all Tour Card Holders this year at 0.34 per leg, one of every three legs.

Of these three players, De Decker has already played once by virtue of starting off his campaign in the Last 96, during that match he played well enough, with an 88.56 average. Despite producing a sub 90 average he still notched up 8 maximums.

Ryan Searle faces Adam Gawlas, Mike De Decker is up against Mensur Suljovics and Dirk Van Duijvenbode completes the afternoon by playing Karel Sedlacek. All three start favourites in these games but all are capable of being pushed by their opponent which is something that would benefit the target of twenty 180’s being hit.