The Boylesports World Grand Prix kicks off tonight with eight first round ties. Four seeds in play tonight, including the defending champion Jonny Clayton.

 

Tie of the Night: Clayton v van Duijvenbode

A sensational year was capped off with the Grand Prix title in 2021 for Jonny Clayton. His form has been quite inconsistent lately, but his recent win over van Duijenbode at the Belgian Open showed good omens.

It is a big week for Dirk himself, who is defending final money from when he lost to Gerwyn Price in 2020. Despite that success, he lost first round last year to Luke Humphries. The Dutchman has won 2 titles already this year and only last month he was runner up in a TV title when he again lost to Gerwyn Price.

Is it Chisnall’s time?

Fourth in the running order is the most recent title winner in the PDC, Dave Chisnall. He takes on the Belgian ace Dimitri van den Bergh.

Chizzy is fresh off of a £25,000 Euro Tour win which was accompanied with a nine-darter in the semi-finals. Chisnall also has pedigree in this tournament, making two finals and only falling short to Phil Taylor and MVG. A lot of pundits are tipping Dave to have a run here and it is probably true that his confidence has never been higher.

The only stumbling block is that he has drawn Dimitri van den Bergh. The Dreammaker has had a mixed season, winning twice on the World Series and making a semi-final at the Matchplay. He has had mixed results since the recent switch the Target, but his still is the bookies favourite against the man in form.

MVG Wants Sixth World Grand Prix

Van Gerwen has won 5 of the last ten times at the World Grand Prix. He’s not in great form, throwing a match away at the weekend against Huybrechts. But he didn’t play great at the Premier League or Matchplay for the whole tournament and yet he pocketed two trophies and £360k.

His opponent is Gary Anderson, who always seems to step it up a gear when he sees tat green shirt of MVG. We’ll see if the gulf in class is too big for the Scot at at around 10pm BST.

Lewis getting back to the top?

Most darts fans have wondered whether Adrian Lewis will get back to the summit of the game. Recent form suggests that the dream comeback may be possible. He takes on Jose de Sousa who is bond to make at least one mistake with the format surely. If Adrian Lewis can find tops around 40% of the time, he could be a real threat in Leicester.

Boylesports World Grand Prix Schedule

Monday (1900 BST)

Rydz v Ratajski

Bunting v Dolan

Dobey v Humphries

Chisnall v Van den Bergh

Clayton v van Duijvenbode

Peter Wright v Huybrechts

Van Gerwen v Anderson

De Sousa v Lewis