Littler and Rock both win tense tiebreaks on an incredible Day Five at the World Matchplay
Littler and Rock both win tense tiebreaks on an incredible Day Five at the World Matchplay
Day Five of this year’s World Matchplay sees the Quarter-Final line-up completed, as tournament favourite Luke Littler continues his campaign against Jermaine Wattimena.
Elsewhere, second favourite for the title, Gerwyn Price, takes on Premier League player Chris Dobey. Also, former three-time World Matchplay champion Michael van Gerwen goes head to head with young gun Josh Rock.
The first game of the evening was played between two unseeded players, as Andrew Gilding met Dirk van Duijvenbode.
More Matchplay Glory For Gilding
It was a remarkable performance from Goldfinger in Round One, dumping out fancied outsider Damon Heta, hitting an average of 101.82, and his brilliant from continued.
Gilding hit yet another ton plus average and hit 11/21 of his darts at double, to convincingly beat Dirk van Duijvenbode by eleven legs to five to book his spot in the Quarter-Finals for the second year running.
Dominance from the Welshman
Elsewhere, in the second game of the evening, Gerwyn Price put in one of the best performances of the 2025 World Matchplay against Chris Dobey, and for large majorities of the game, Price was threatening record breaking numbers.
The Iceman concluded with a staggering 108.73 average, and more impressively, a doubling percentage of 73.33%. In his interview afterwards, Price admitted that he felt “in the zone” during his second round match, and the 10-3 scoreline reinforces his point.
Sensational Comeback From Luke Littler
Not many people gave Jermaine Wattimena a chance in his second round game against the reigning World Champion Luke Littler, but he found himself in convincing positions throughout, leading 4-0 and 7-2.
That scoreline seemed to trigger a switch in The Nuke’s armoury, winning six legs on the bounce to turn the game on its head to lead 8-7. The drama was endless from then on until the end, with the fixture culminating in a tense tiebreak.
It was Littler who dominated proceedings from then on, and despite missing multiple match darts in multiple legs, he managed to cling on to win the match 13-11 and cap off a Winter Gardens classic.
A Blackpool Bonanza
The final match of the evening saw yet another mouthwatering prospect, as Michael van Gerwen faced Josh Rock, with the Northern-Irishman instilled as the favourite to win by the bookmakers.
Once again, the game lived up to the hype, with both players throwing haymakers at one another, a 157 checkout from Rock to hold his throw was the turning point to make it 9-8.
For the second game running, the Winter Gardens crowd were treated to a tiebreak, and it was the newly crowned World Cup champion who prevailed to dump out the former three-time World Matchplay champion 13-11.
2025 Betfred World Matchplay
Wednesday July 23 (1900 BST)
Second Round x4
Andrew Gilding 11-5 Dirk van Duijvenbode
Gerwyn Price 11-3 Chris Dobey
Luke Littler 13-11 Jermaine Wattimena (Tiebreak)
Michael van Gerwen 11-13 Josh Rock (Tiebreak)
Best of 21 legs
Thursday July 24 (2000 BST)
Quarter-Finals x2
Gian van Veen v James Wade
Stephen Bunting v Jonny Clayton
Best of 31 legs
Friday July 25 (2000 BST)
Quarter-Finals x2
Andrew Gilding vs Luke Littler
Gerwyn Price vs Josh Rock
Best of 31 legs
