2017 PDC World Matchplay. 22/07-30/07. Sky Sports.

ArmaniJeanss

Generally agreed to be one of the best events of the season.
Looking forward to this one. Could well be an MVG procession though the draw is theoretically as tricky as it could be for him with Bunting, Whitlock & RVB/Taylor his first 3 opponents.
********
Draw.

Michael van Gerwen (1) v Stephen Bunting
Simon Whitlock (16) v Kyle Anderson
Phil Taylor (8) v Gerwyn Price
Raymond van Barneveld (9) v Joe Cullen

Dave Chisnall (5) v Mervyn King
Kim Huybrechts (12) v Alan Norris
Adrian Lewis (4) v Steve Beaton
Ian White (13) v Rob Cross
==============
Gary Anderson (2) v Christian Kist
Benito van de Pas (15) v Daryl Gurney
Mensur Suljovic (7) v John Henderson
Jelle Klaasen (10) v Justin Pipe

James Wade (6) v Darren Webster
Michael Smith (11) v Steve West
Peter Wright (3) v James Wilson
Robert Thornton (14) v Cristo Reyes

First round schedule Best of 19, win by 2, tiebreaker if 12/12.

Saturday July 22 (7pm)
4x First Round
Michael Smith v Steve West
James Wade v Darren Webster
Gary Anderson v Christian Kist
Peter Wright v James Wilson

Sunday July 23
Afternoon Session (1pm)
4x First Round
Jelle Klaasen v Justin Pipe
Robert Thornton v Cristo Reyes
Benito van de Pas v Daryl Gurney
Mensur Suljovic v John Henderson

Sunday Evening Session (7.30pm)
4x First Round
Dave Chisnall v Mervyn King
Phil Taylor v Gerwyn Price
Raymond van Barneveld v Joe Cullen
Kim Huybrechts v Alan Norris

Monday July 24 (7pm)
4x First Round
Simon Whitlock v Kyle Anderson
Adrian Lewis v Steve Beaton
Michael van Gerwen v Stephen Bunting
Ian White v Rob Cross

Odds.
Winner market

mdwexford

Definitely my second favourite tournament of the year.

Feels like forever since there's been proper darts on tv.

mdwexford

Steve West played beautifully there.

Wasn't expecting him to play that well.

paulie21

Snakebite got out of jail. He played brutal and Wilson wasn't much better

crasy dash

Snakebite looked wrecked tonight never got going the Wade Webster match was very enjoyable great start so far.

ArmaniJeanss

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

Sunday July 23
Jelle Klaasen v Justin Pipe
Robert Thornton v Cristo Reyes
Benito van de Pas v Daryl Gurney
Mensur Suljovic v John Henderson

Wins for the unseeded trio of Pipe, Reyes and Gurney so far. BvDP had 3 darts at D16 to win 10-7, all close.

mdwexford

Suljovic vs Pipe in round two.

One for the purists.

paulie21

Barney made hard work of that from 8-3 up

gramar

Looking ominous for Bunting.

crasy dash

Just have to love Mvg poor Bunting sweating and under pressure and Mvg is signing autographs going into the break

gramar

Bunting was putting up so little resistence that MvG was having trouble focusing towards the end.

marklazarcovic

Would not have liked poor Stephen to get brushed there

Deeper Blue

I've heard of Cross but never seen him play. The lads on Sky giving him the big build up. How good is he really?

marklazarcovic

NDWC wrote: »

I've heard of Cross but never seen him play. The lads on Sky giving him the big build up. How good is he really?

He is good,just untested on big stage

Ultimate Seduction

NDWC wrote:

I've heard of Cross but never seen him play. The lads on Sky giving him the big build up. How good is he really?

Top 10 on the floor player this year. Played very well in UK open but other than that, I havnt seen him on tv.

gramar

NDWC wrote: »

I've heard of Cross but never seen him play. The lads on Sky giving him the big build up. How good is he really?

We're about to find out!
He's done very well so far this year.
I think he beat MvG 6-2 in a tour event not long ago.

mdwexford

Cross is 26!!! Did he buy his passport off Diego Costa?!

Ultimate Seduction

mdwexford wrote:

Cross is 26!!! Did he buy his passport off Diego Costa?!

Jesus. I just had it in my head that he was in his 40s!!

Deeper Blue

mdwexford wrote: »

Cross is 26!!! Did he buy his passport off Diego Costa?!

26 going on 46 by the looks of it

crasy dash

Well done Rob Cross nice win 10-7 big jump for him to go up against Jackpot.

Deeper Blue

Cross wins, he looked decent but White wasn't great. Came across well in his interview too.

ArmaniJeanss

Draw.

Michael van Gerwen (1) v Simon Whitlock (16)
Phil Taylor (8) v Raymond van Barneveld (9)
Dave Chisnall (5) v Alan Norris
Adrian Lewis (4) v Rob Cross
==============
Gary Anderson (2) v Daryl Gurney
Mensur Suljovic (7) v Justin Pipe
Darren Webster v Steve West
Peter Wright (3) v Cristo Reyes

Top half games on Wednesday, bottom half on Tuesday.
Suljovic/Pipe is up first, I nominate mod kingp35 to watch it for us.

Ultimate Seduction

Can't wait for Pipe v Suiljovic

Kingp35

Ultimate Seduction wrote: »

Can't wait for Pipe v Suiljovic

Do you reckon they'll try to slow each other down?

If it goes to the last leg we will be in for a very long night!

Stevecw

Mensur 6-4 up, missed a dart for 7-3. Pipe will drag this out forever, hate watching him play.

marklazarcovic

Thank fcuk that's over,what's worse was the commentary trying to make it exciting

Stevecw

Nice win there by Suljovic 11-6, by far the better player. Love his weird ways of finishing, set himself up for double 18 there instead of tops! Great that Pipe is gone, a horrible player to watch.

gramar

8-6 to Gurney...he goes off for a little celebration and Anderson goes to throw before before Gurney has even taken them out.
He can be a bit grumpy on the oche can Gary.

mdwexford

Fabulous game of darts.

Top notch.

paulie21

11-9 Gurney. Cracking game

gramar

Well deserved...Gurney has been building towards a win like that for a while. Bit of a breakthrough for him tonight.
The game needs more players competing at the top end and hopefully Gurney can get in amongst that group.

Kingp35

Brilliant game that was. Great bottle by Gurney to get win. Serious checking out from him all game.

mdwexford

Gurney should really fancy his chances of the final playing like that.

Wright is playing badly at the moment and the other quarter is weak enough.

blackcard

Kingp35 wrote: »

Brilliant game that was. Great bottle by Gurney to get win. Serious checking out from him all game.

Both players contributed to a great game, Anderson lost with a lot of class. Gurney really stepping up as Gary wasn't going to roll over

mdwexford

Reyes could do Wright here.

He's under rated, gave Mvg a right scare at the Worlds.
Lost with a 106 average.

Stevecw

Great stuff by Gurney. Fully expect Reyes to win here too

marklazarcovic

Snakebite finding form,Cristo loosing his

mdwexford

Ok so Wright is back playing near his best and Reyes is poor tonight.

He's some man to tinker with his darts, last day he was crap, today he's lethal again.

Maybe seeing Ando crash out gave him extra motivation. :pac:

Stevecw

Yeah Wright is back on form again it seems, so unpredictable really!

Sultan of Bling

Anyone else notice the camera on the board is really shaky?

The camera work in general has been quite poor during the tournament so far too.

Stevecw

Sultan of Bling wrote: »

Anyone else notice the camera on the board is really shaky?

The camera work in general has been quite poor during the tournament so far too.

Yep noticed it a good few times, especially when they go in close on the board. Very odd, as Sky are doing this for years. Really strange

Ultimate Seduction

They got rid of the camera men and replaced them with computers/robots. That's what Chris Mason said on Twitter anyway.

Kingp35

Ultimate Seduction wrote: »

They got rid of the camera men and replaced them with computers/robots. That's what Chris Mason said on Twitter anyway.

The robots should be fired. It's very annoying when the camera shakes. Sky are supposed to be at the forefront of sport production, the least they could do is get a camera that doesn't shake!

Tonight's lineup:

Wednesday July 26 (7pm)
4x Second Round
Dave Chisnall v Alan Norris
Adrian Lewis v Rob Cross
Phil Taylor v Raymond van Barneveld
Michael van Gerwen v Simon Whitlock

Obviously Barney v Taylor is the big one. I think Barney would love to knock Phil out of his last ever matchplay. I think Taylor will beat him though.

Ultimate Seduction

Norris and Cross for the upsets tonight I think.

FineAle

Can see Norris doing the work tonight. Hopefully Phil and Barney can pull a stormer out of the bag too.

A Shaved Duck?

Ultimate Seduction wrote: »

Norris and Cross for the upsets tonight I think.

Cross wouldnt be an upset..lewis is playing poorly.

Ultimate Seduction

FineAle wrote:

Can see Norris doing the work tonight. Hopefully Phil and Barney can pull a stormer out of the bag too.

Thank God this is one of the last times well hear sky raving about "el classico" .

Kingp35

A Shaved Duck? wrote: »

Cross wouldnt be an upset..lewis is playing poorly.

Lewis is also injured. I would put Cross as slight favourite for this one.

Ultimate Seduction

A Shaved Duck? wrote:

Cross wouldnt be an upset..lewis is playing poorly.

Kingp35 wrote:

Lewis is also injured. I would put Cross as slight favourite for this one.

Fair enough, I know the story with Lewis that's why I fancy Cross.. It's still and upset though. Cross is What, 48th in OOM? Lewis is favourite.

Kingp35

Very good game there between Chizzy and Norris, it had a bit of everything! Delighted Norris won, his combination finishing is great.

mdwexford

Another great game there.

I'd be surprised if Lewis lost tonight.
Big step up beating a double world champ on the big stage. We shall see if Cross can hold his nerve.

Hope The Power wins tonight and wins the whole thing. He deserves one last major after the career he's had.