Nathan Aspinall silenced his doubters by defeating Ryan Searle in a round-one thriller on Monday night. ‘The Asp’, who was recently forced to step away from the oche due to injury, marked his return to the big stage with a 2-1 win over ‘Heavy Metal’. Next up for the Stockport star is a round two clash with Ryan Joyce. ‘Relentless’ pulled off a minor upset by overcoming Josh Rock in round one.

Aspinall is the 1.62 favourite on Wednesday night and he looks worth backing to prevail at that price. The world number six took no time whatsoever to rediscover his rhythm on Monday, averaging a very solid 92.92 for a double-in and double-out format. He also delivered four 180s, not to mention he hit 140+ on no fewer than 14 occasions. The victory and the manner of his performance will have helped shake off any cobwebs, and the psychological boost should also stand Aspinall in good stead moving forward.

While Joyce should push Aspinall close on Wednesday night, ‘the Asp’s’ big stage experience should give him the edge. ‘Relentless’ fell at the second hurdle in his one and only previous appearance at the World Grand Prix.

Rob Cross caused a bit of a stir on night one of the World Grand Prix by dumping out pre-tournament favourite Luke Littler. ‘Voltage’ opened his challenge with a 2-1 victory over the teenage sensation to set up a round two showdown with Martin Schindler. ‘The Wall’ got his campaign up and running by defeating Brendan Dolan 2-0 in round one. However, the German number one can expect a much tougher test against Cross, who can justify 1.67 favouritism by advancing to the quarter-final stage on Wednesday night.

The world number four has averaged a notable 96.94 since the start of the year, a tally topped by only six other players. He has also picked up a European Tour title this year, not to mention he won the US Darts Masters as well as reaching the final of both the Nordic and Poland Darts Masters.

Cross’ consistency when doubling-in against Littler on Monday night was particularly impressive, and if he can replicate that efficiency again in round two, then he should prove too strong for Schindler. ‘Voltage’ can also draw confidence from the fact that he has won eight of the overall 11 meetings between the pair.

Luke Humphries and Ricardo Pietreczko will renew hostilities in round two of the World Grand Prix on Wednesday night. ‘Cool Hand Luke’ kicked off his title defence by producing a stunning comeback to beat Stephen Bunting to win 2-1 on the opening night. As for Pietraszko, he marked his World Grand Prix debut with a 2-1 win over Dutch legend Raymond van Barneveld.

While Pietraszko is understandably a huge underdog going into this clash, he looks a great value option to hit two or more 180s at 1.73. The German, who goes by the nickname ‘Pikachu’, recently claimed the scalp of Humphries with a 7-4 win to reach the Flanders Darts Trophy final, hitting seven maximums for good measure.

It’s also worth noting that he managed to hit a couple of 180s when losing to Humphries at this year’s World Matchplay. The pair also met at the 2024 World Darts Championship, with Pietreczko delivering five 180s on that occasion. The 29-year old hit a trio of maximums in his aforementioned round one win over van Barneveld, so a minimum of two looks well within range against Humphries, especially with it now being a best of five sets.

The final fixture of day three at the World Grand Prix sees Jonny Clayton go up against Ross Smith. ‘The Ferret’ avoided a potential banana skin in round one by seeing off Ritchie Edhouse, and likewise ‘Smudger’ who got the better of Gian van Veen.

A case could be made for either arrowsmith here, but the smart play could be to back Smith to hit the most 180s at 1.44 . The Dover-born ace is one of the biggest hitters on the PDC tour, particularly when it comes to maximums. He hit three in his 2-0 victory over van Veen, taking his overall 180 tally to 593 across the last 12 months. That return sees Smith keeping company with the PDC’s most prolific maximum hitters, with only Luke Humphries , Luke Littler and Stephen Bunting able to boast a higher 180 return across that period.

While Clayton is more than capable of racking up his share of 180s, he is well -renowned for being a steady 140 hitter. Given that there is plenty of scope for this game to go the distance, Smith looks well placed to fire in more maximums than that of the Ferret.