Aspinall In Action As Round Two Concludes Ahead Of Xmas Break

Aspinall In Action As Round Two Concludes Ahead Of Xmas Break

Reigning World Matchplay champion Nathan Aspinall begins his tilt at a maiden world title on Saturday evening, as the final eight second round matches take place on day nine of the 2024 Paddy Power World Darts Championships.

Evening Session

Two time semi finalist Aspinall, has been defeated at the third round stage for the past 3 years, including a 4-3 thriller against Josh Rock twelve months ago, yet has been tipped by some to go much deeper in the tournament this time around despite and a hit and miss year.

A UK Open quarter final came before his Matchplay success but since that Blackpool win, a World Series Finals final appearance is ‘The Asp’s’ only performance of note. He takes on Ricky Evans in the final match before the Christmas break, Evans having defeated Simon Adams back on Sunday afternoon.

Elsewhere, there’s a tasty looking clash between Stephen Bunting and Ryan Joyce. Bunting has been one of, if not the form player in planet darts in recent months, with a semi final at the Grand Slam of Darts and quarter final at the Players Championship Finals but ‘Relentless’ was a semi finalist in Minehead himself and posted one of the performances of the first round when beating Alex Spellman. The winner will face Florian Hempel after he dumped out Dimitri van den Bergh for the second time in three years on Friday evening.

Josh Rock reached the fourth round on his debut twelve months ago, including the aforementioned win over Aspinall, before bowing out to Jonny Clayton. The Northern Irish ace gets his campaign underway against Berry van Peer, who beat Luke Woodhouse in round one. Damon Heta lies in wait in round three.

Ryan Searle and Tomoya Goto kick things off when they clash first up, Goto winning through against Ian White in round one. Searle has never failed to get to round three at the Palace and will be confident of continuing that record. A tie with Joe Cullen awaits the winner.

Afternoon Session

Welshman Jonny Clayton makes his first appearance of this year’s tournament on Saturday afternoon when he takes on Ireland’s Steve Lennon. 2023 quarter finalist Clayton, reached the World Matchplay final before tailing off in the second half of the year and will be hoping to recapture some sort of form against Lennon, who was impressive in his comeback victory over debutant Owen Bates, especially when taking into consideration the implications it had on his Tour Card. The winner will face Krzysztof Ratajski in the third round.

Former world number 3 Daryl Gurney is a two time quarter finalist at the Palace and he faces Steve Beaton in the last match of the afternoon.

Callan Rydz reached the quarter finals in 2022 before losing to eventual winner Peter Wright. He’s had a disappointing 2023 and will be hoping to avoid an upset against a man on the rise in Ricardo Pietreczko. The winner of that clash will face the unenviable task of facing Luke Humphries in round three while Kim Huybrechts and Richard Veenstra face off for the right to face Michael van Gerwen when they open proceedings in the afternoon session.

Saturday’s Order of Play

Afternoon Session

Kim Huybrechts v Richard Veenstra (R2)

Callan Rydz v Ricardo Pietreczko (R2)

Jonny Clayton v Steve Lennon (R2)

Daryl Gurney v Steve Beaton (R2)

Evening Session

Ryan Searle v Tomoya Goto (R2)

Josh Rock v Berry van Peer (R2)

Stephen Bunting v Ryan Joyce (R2)

Nathan Aspinall v Ricky Evans (R2)