Sam Hart gives his thoughts on some of the remaining round of 16 matches.
The first match I like the look at is the game between Stephen Bunting and Luke Woodhouse. Stephen Bunting is the people champion, and he has a lot of fans rooting for him to go all the way. He plays a player in Luke Woodhouse, who put in an exceptional display to come back from 3-1 down vs Damon Heta. Heta hit a nine-darter, but that didn’t put Woodhouse off as he averaged 92 in the end to dispatch the Australian number one. Woodhouse was solid on his doubles towards the back end of the match and showed he’s a fighter despite it being a bit of a shock for him to get to the round of 16. Bunting looked much more solid in his third-round match than what he did in his second-round match. He averaged over 100, which is always hard to do over these longer formats. He looked really solid and certainly played like a player who thinks he can go all the way. It’s going to be a tight game where I think Bunting will come out on top, but the over 5.5 sets at ½ with Unibet has the most appeal for me here in this one.
Ricardo Pietreczko vs Nathan Aspinall has the chance to be a bit of a classic. Ricardo is an interesting character and seems to be playing the darts of his life getting to this stage of the tournament. He easily dispatched last year's semi-finalist Scott Williams in the third round. He averaged 97 in that game, but that wasn’t the most impressive part of his performance. The fact he managed to throw a 52% double rate was just incredible. Aspinall dispatched Goldfinger Andrew Gilding 4-0 in his last round match. He took a pause mid-match to watch a darts fan take on a four-pint pitcher, but he’s another a bit like Bunting, who seems like one of the real good guys in the sport. It’s got the chance to be a classic, and it’s another I can see going a fair way; over 5.5 sets is currently 1/2 with Unibet and could be one to double up with.
The only other Round of 16 game I am interested in is the match between Kevin Doets and Chris Dobey. Dobey did well to get through Josh Rock, who started really well in their third-round match. I was impressed by Dobey, though he has had a quiet enough year by his standards. He averaged 97 and was 45% on his doubles. He needs to keep that form up, though against Doets, who seems to enjoy dumping out some of the tournament fancies. Kevin played Ratajski on Sunday and had to battle his way through it, throwing a 170 checkout in one of the legs. He’s another player who, similar to Luke Woodhouse, doesn't mind getting into a battle. He needs to keep to that mid-90s average in that game to keep up with Dobey, but he is more than capable of doing so. Doets +2.5 in the Asian handicap at 1/2 with Unibet could be the play here, as he will make this a battle, but Dobey could just be a little too good for the Dutchman.
Thanks for tuning in, as always, to this preview. I’ll be back for day fourteen, but until then enjoy the sport and gamble responsibly.