Kevin Doets warrants support to cause a mini upset at the Winmau World Masters against Peter Wright. The Dutchman secured his place at this year’s new-look showpiece by successfully coming through the preliminary round. The fact Doets was one of the final eight qualifiers is no real surprise given how well he performed at the 2025 World Darts Championships. He produced a string of impressive performances to reach the round of 16, claiming the scalp of Michael Smith along the way. Doets has since put in a pair of eye-catching displays at the Dutch Darts Masters, demolishing Nathan Aspinall 6-1 before pushing Gerwyn Price all the way in a 6-5 defeat. If the 26-year old can replicate those efforts against Wright, then he could send the Scotsman packing early. While ‘Snakebite’ knocked Luke Humphries out of the World Darts Championships last month, he continues to blow more cold than hot. Wright made heavy weather of putting away inferior opposition in the opening two rounds of the Bahrain Darts Masters but Doets will be a lot more difficult to oust. ‘Hawkeye’ triumphed in the previous meeting between the pair last year and he looks well placed to repeat the trick.

One of the standout ties from the opening round of the Winmau World Masters sees Luke Humphries come up against Joe Cullen. While ‘ Cool Hand’ comes into this clash as the heavy favourite, ‘The Rockstar’ holds plenty of appeal to hit a minimum of three 180s. Despite Cullen’s up and down form last year, he remains one of the PDC’s most consistent 180 hitters. The Bradford-born arrowsmith appeared just twice at the 2025 World Darts Championships but he still managed to rack up a combined total of 15 maximums across his two outings. That 180 output included a return of eight in a 3-0 straight sets victory over Wessel Nijman. Given that Cullen’s first round tie with Humphries will also be a race to three sets, three or more 180s should be well within range. At the 2024 World Darts Grand Prix back in October - a tournament where matches are played to set format - Cullen covered the over 2.5 line in each of his three respective outings in that particular event. While it was played over a slightly longer format, it’s also worth noting that Cullen crashed in 12 maximums when he last met Humphries at the 2024 World Darts Championships.

Danny Noppert and Michael Smith will bring the curtain down on Thursday night’s action at the Winmau World Masters. Both players will be looking to make a strong start to the year after the duo underwhelmed somewhat throughout 2024. While Smith is well renowned for being one of the most lethal 180 hitters on the planet, Noppert is not too shabby himself when it comes to filling up the treble 20 bed. As such, ‘The Freeze’ looks worth siding with to deliver three or more maximums during his battle with ‘Bully Boy’. The Dutch dartist’s knack for hitting 180s is evidenced by the fact that he tallied a mighty impressive total of 460 maximums across 2024. To put that into context, that 180 haul was bettered by only 11 other players across the entire PDC circuit last year. Furthermore, in his one and only outing at the 2025 World Darts Championships, Noppert hit no fewer than eight 180s when losing 3-1 to Ryan Joyce. He also unfurled at least three maximums in each of his three appearances at the Players Championship Finals at the tail end of November, including six when losing to Luke Littler.