Saturday night’s action at the Winmau World Masters gets underway with Jonny Clayton squaring off with Ryan Searle. Both players comfortably secured their place in the round of 16 with 3-1 victories on Friday night, with Clayton seeing off Martin Schindler, while Searle got the better of Chris Dobey.

A case could be made for either arrowsmith here and that is reflected in the pre-match odds, with the market pretty much making it a pick’em. With a closely-fought contest anticipated, the smarter option could be to side with over 5.5 sets.

The head-to-head record between the pair is tight, with Clayton claiming 4 victories, while Searle has taken top honours on 3 occasions. On top of that, there has been very little to separate the duo in the majority of those previous 7 showdowns, and it is difficult to envisage either player running away with this one. With the added incentive of a potential quarter-final clash with Luke Littler, both players will be going hammer and tongs for the victory.

Pre-tournament favourite Luke Littler resumes his quest for a maiden Masters title with a last 16 showdown with James Wade on Saturday night. The teenage sensation swept aside Andy Baetens with a straight sets victory on Friday night, while Wade edged out Mike de Decker with a 3-2 success.

With Littler the firm favourite here, instead look to him to triumph alongside hitting the most 180s and the highest checkout of the game. This combination clicked during Littler’s round one win over the aforementioned Baetens. What’s more, Littler delivered the most maximums and biggest finish of the game in 4 of his 6 victories en-route to lifting the world title last month. He has also enjoyed match treble success in his wins over Lourence Ilagan and Dimitri Van den Bergh at the Bahrain and Dutch Darts Masters respectively.

While Wade cannot be underestimated, he is notorious for being a much more methodical operator than that of Littler, with ‘The Nuke’ more renowned for racking up 180s and producing roof-raising finishes. Wade lost both the 180 and highest checkout battle against de Decker in round one, and a repeat looks likely against Littler, who should prove too strong for ‘The Machine’.

The final second round tie to be played in this year’s Winmau World Masters sees Michael van Gerwen go up against Dimitri Van den Bergh. 5-time Masters winner van Gerwen hit the ground running with a 3-1 win over Bradley Brooks, while Van den Bergh won by the same scoreline against Gary Anderson.

MVG boasts a phenomenal head-to-head record against ‘The DreamMaker’ and it’s hard to look past the Dutch destroyer on Saturday night. Backing van Gerwen to emerge victorious alongside hitting the highest checkout of the game is an appealing angle of attack. This selection would have paid out in each of the last 3 meetings between the pair, one of which was at last year’s Masters.

Mighty Mike’ is one of the deadliest arrowsmiths on the darting circuit when it comes to producing high checkouts. That knack for nailing big finishes was on show when he took out 106 in his round one win over Brooks. MVG also delivered the highest checkout of the game in each of his 2 appearances at last weekend’s Dutch Darts Masters, as well as 4 of his 6 outings at the 2025 World Darts Championships, including in the final against Luke Littler.