Gary Anderson sent a timely reminder to the rest of the PDC that he remains a force to be reckoned with after knocking out second seed Michael Smith on Tuesday night. ‘The Flying Scotsman’ has been in fine form on the floor this year and he carried that momentum onto a major stage by seeing off Smith. Next up for Anderson is a second round clash with Mike De Decker, who caused a minor upset by dumping out Damon Heta in round one.

‘The Real Deal’ will draw plenty of confidence from his victory over Heta but it’s going to be a very tall order for him to overcome Anderson. The two-time world champion boasts the highest average score across the full PDC circuit this calendar year, with his current tally sitting at a staggering 99.80. He also ranks 11th for his checkout percentage, which reads a very healthy 41.61%.

While De Decker looks capable of pushing any opponent to the limit, he was beaten 6-3 by Anderson a little over two weeks ago. ‘The Flying Scotsman’ can make use of his greater major tournament nous to edge their latest encounter on Thursday night.

Gerwyn Price survived a real scare to progress from the first round with a 2-1 win over Danny Noppert on Tuesday night. The former World Grand Prix champion now faces another stern test of his title aspirations when he faces James Wade in round two. ‘The Machine’ produced a typically efficient performance to send Peter Wright packing on Tuesday night.

While Price is the worthy favourite to progress, seeing off seasoned campaigner Wade won’t be a straightforward task . Instead, back ‘The Iceman’ to hit the most 180s at 1.62.

Price remains one the PDC’s heavy hitters. He has crashed in 452 maximums across the last 12 months of action, a figure bettered by only 12 other players. In contrast, Wade is a much more methodical player when it comes to working his way down the board. The 2010 World Grand Prix winner is not renowned for being a serial 180 hitter. He ranks 56th for maximums scored in 2024, mustering up just one in his round one success against Wright.

Price, meanwhile, produced four 180s when defeating Noppert in the first round, and a repeat here should be enough to see him win the maximum count.

Daryl Gurney delivered a darting masterclass to dump Michael van Gerwen out of the World Grand Prix on Tuesday night. ‘Superchin’ swept his way to a stunning 2-0 win over the Dutchman, astonishingly winning all six legs in the process.

Gurney’s latest foe – Joe Cullen – caused a first round upset of his own by overcoming Chris Dobey, who was widely fancied for World Grand Prix success.

Despite both players ruffling feathers to set up this round two clash, 2017 World Grand Prix winner Gurney is the 1.73 favourite. However, the Northern Irishman is unlikely to have things all his own way for the second game running, making Cullen an attractive option to hit over 3.5 180s at 2.0

‘The Rockstar’ returned to form in impressive fashion on Tuesday night, averaging 93.22 and hitting four maximums. Given that round two fixtures increase to a best of five sets, Cullen looks well placed to produce another four 180s on Thursday night. The Bradford-born ace reached the semi-final stage of last year’s World Grand Prix, hitting four or more maximums in each of his three outings from the second round onwards, including eight against Ross Smith at this stage.

The final fixture of round two at the World Grand Prix sees Dave Chisnall do battle with Dimitri Van Den Bergh. ‘Chizzy’ eased his way into the tournament with a six-leg whitewash of Cameron Menzies, while Van Den Bergh had to dig deep to come from a set down to defeat Luke Woodhouse 2-1.

It should be another tight tungsten tussle involving ‘the Dream Maker’, with the Belgian meriting support to hit over 3.5 180s at 1.73. Van den Bergh’s maximum return over the past 12 months has him housed inside the top 31. He managed to rack up five in his round one win over Woodhouse and one fewer than that tally is entirely plausible in his second round showdown with Chisnall. The Belgian number one hit a combined total of 22 maximums across his three outings at this year’s World Matchplay, two of which formed part of a roof-raising nine-dart finish.

Given that there is plenty of scope for this fixture to go the full five-set distance, over 3.5 180s from Van Den Bergh is particularly appealing at the price on offer.