Mike de Decker produced a stunning display to brilliantly dismantle Gary Anderson with a 3-0 win in Round 2. Not to be outdone, James Wade delivered a darting masterclass of his own by putting Gerwyn Price to the sword 3-0 shortly thereafter.

Thus, you could easily make a case for either player here, though seasoned campaigner Wade can justify favouritism to secure a semi-final spot. ‘The Machine’ has course and distance form in his locker, having won the World Grand Prix in both 2007 and 2010, as well as finishing as runner-up to Michael van Gerwen in 2014.

Wade rolled back the years with some magical darts when surging to the last-four of the World Matchplay back in July, and he has carried that momentum into the 2024 World Grand Prix, having already sent both Peter Wright and the aforementioned Price packing.

While de Decker’s demolition of Anderson demonstrated just how talented an operator he is, replicating his scoring performance from the previous round will be a tall order. ‘The Machine’ has a knack for grinding out wins on the big stage and there is enough in the price to take a chance on him to edge a tight tussle.

Ryan Joyce will be looking to ruffle more feathers at this year’s World Grand Prix when he comes up against Rob Cross at the Quarter-Final stage. ‘Relentless’ dumped out dark horse Josh Rock in Round 1before edging past number eight seed Nathan Aspinall in a 3-2 thriller. The Newcastle ace now faces his toughest test to date against Cross.

‘Voltage’ progressed to the Quarter-Final stage of this competition for the first time ever with a typically efficient 3-1 win over Martin Schindler. Prior to that victory, Cross claimed the scalp of pre-tournament favourite Luke Littler in the First Round, so he should be brimming with confidence heading into this one.

While Joyce will also be in high spirits given how well he has performed this week, overcoming Cross could be a bridge too far. Joyce was staring down the barrel at one point in his Round Two clash before Aspinall felt the strain and fluffed his lines. Cross is unlikely to be so wasteful if given the chance to put Joyce to the sword. ‘Voltage’ is now the second-highest seed remaining in the tournament and he can assert his superiority to secure a Semi-Final spot.

Luke Humphries continues the defence of his World Grand Prix crown against Jonny Clayton in the opening quarter-final tie on Friday night. After surviving a Round 1 scare to see off Stephen Bunting, Humphries had a much more comfortable time of it when recording a 3-1 win over Ricardo Pietreczko in Round 2. As for Clayton, he has claimed a pair of solid victories over both Ritchie Edhouse and Ross Smith to secure his place in the last-eight.

With ‘Cool Hand Luke’ the overwhelming favourite on Friday night, instead look for this tie to feature over 3.5 sets. While Humphries remains the man to beat at this year’s World Grand Prix, he hasn’t been at his free-flowing best thus far. As already mentioned, Humphries was pushed to the limit by Bunting before putting in a solid if unspectacular performance to get past Pietreczko.

Both players managed to win a set against the world number one and ‘The Ferret’ can follow suit, even in defeat. Clayton is a solid and steady operator, evidenced by the fact that he has won five of the six sets that he has contested at this year’s World Grand Prix to date.

The closing Quarter-Final tie on Friday night sees Joe Cullen do battle with Dimitri Van den Bergh. Cullen caused a minor upset in Round 1 by dumping out a much-fancied Chris Dobey and he has since edged out 2017 winner Daryl Gurney. Van den Bergh, meanwhile, survived a First Round scare against Luke Woodhouse before putting in a much-improved performance to defeat Dave Chsinall 3-1 in Round 2.

‘The Rockstar’ has exceeded expectations to get to this stage but he is going to have to raise his game significantly if he is to get the better of Belgium’s number one. Van den Bergh goes about his business in a methodical manner and he has a habit of getting the job done, particularly when plotting his path to the latter stages of TV majors. ‘The Dreammaker’ triumphed at this year’s UK Open and he also put in a strong showing to reach the quarter-final stage of this year’s World Matchplay.

Cullen was able to capitalise on Gurney’s doubling-in difficulties on Thursday night, but he is unlikely to be afforded the same luxury against van den Bergh, who was very proficient with his opening doubles when defeating Chisnall.