Favourites dominate on day two at World Cup of Darts. There were no shocks to be had on day two of the 2020 BetVictor World Cup of Darts.

Betting favourites heading into the day’s ties came out on top, with only Wales v Scotland going to a deciding pairs match out of the eight played in Salzburg.

• Wales triumphed in that decider with Scotland 2-1, and they’ll meet Australia in the quarter final, after the latter defeated Poland 2-0.
• There were also 2-0 wins for England, Austria, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany and the impressive Canada team on a bumper day of second round action.
• Some players of teams had an easier single match experience than others, but by no means were any of the ties wholly one sided. There were chances and scores aplenty across the remaining participants in the draw.

England and Austria ease through to set up quarter final showdown

Having come through what seemed like a tricky first round tie, the English duo of Michael Smith and Rob Cross gathered further BetVictor World Cup momentum by beating Lithuania 2-0.

Smith opened up with his singles match against Darius Labanauskas, a man who’s shown pedigree in previous PDC events and is a man on the rise, but it was the St Helens arrowsmith who’d send England 1-0 ahead in comfortable fashion.

‘Bully Boy’ didn’t drop a leg on the way to completing a swift 4-0 victory, and many predicted Cross to execute a performance of a similar level; not the case.

Things didn’t start as planned for ‘Voltage’ though, as opponent Mindaugas Barauskas took the opening leg. Cross replied with a shanghai 120 out for 1-1, before Barauskas once again nudged in-front by taking a third leg aided by a beautiful 171. The Englishman held throw in 17 darts to restore parity, followed by a sublime 10 dart break of throw which ultimately set the foundations to go on and win the following leg for a 2-0 England victory.

Hosts Austria reached the quarters by defeating late entrants Portugal, and an interesting first singles match of Mensur Suljovic v Jose De Sousa got this tie underway.

Suljovic hit D16 to open up with a hold, and a miss on D18 for Jose was punished by Suljovic to double the lead. Mensur then snatched a sloppy leg on the outer ring to hold for 3-0, before De Sousa rallied to hold and break in consecutive legs to reduce the deficit at 3-2. The fifth leg was finished with a wonderful 121 by De Sousa, and although it seemed he might pull of a comeback, it wasn’t to be as Suljovic picked off 58 to give Austria a 1-0 lead.

Jose Marques got the Portuguese off to a positive start in the following match, going 1-0 ahead after 6 missed darts at the double from himself and opponent Rowby-John Rodriguez. Rodriguez responded with a hold on an 84 out, before taking out 78 for 2-1 in a leg he was trailing until two big scores brought him back into contention.

Rowby-John comfortably won the following two legs to send Austria into that showdown with the English pair tomorrow afternoon.

 

Scotland force Wales to decider as Aussies brush off Polish challenge

Second seeds Wales were taken all the way by defending champions Scotland, but as the two singles matches were shared, Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton produced a sensational performance in the deciding pairs match, complete with a 100+ average, to progress to the quarter final.

Price got the better of John Henderson 4-2 in the first singles encounter of the match.

The Iceman raced into a 24 dart 2-0 lead, and it looked like the Markham man would go onto to secure the first point in rapid fashion. Not to be, though. Despite Price going 3-0 up, it could well have been 2-1, as Hendo crucially missed a trio at double to take out 40.

The Highlander continued to show promise for the Scots, firstly firing in a superb 121 checkout complete with a bull finish, before stumping up a 13 dart break on tops.

Price rectified a mini rough patch to eventually get over the line and hand his country a 1-0 lead, enabling Jonny Clayton to attempt to secure victory in his match with Robert Thornton.

The Ferret couldn’t replicate his partner’s result, with Thornton taking the match to that intriguing decider.

A hold of throw from either saw the match go 1-1 early on. Clayton missed a shot at D16 to break in leg one, however, before holding in the second leg with a nice shanghai checkout. The match didn’t possess the best of quality on the outer ring, as a scrappy third leg went the way of Thornton  who held in 27.

Clayton levelled at 2-2 in a contrasting 14 dart hold, a leg where the Thorn opened up with scores of 3 and 21. He soon regained his composure, producing a heavy scoring leg that produced a 180, 120 and 100 on his way to a 15 dart hold on top, before drawing Scotland level with a 16 dart break.

Thornton’s victory would surely have given the duo hope of potentially extending their tournament and defending their crown, but any aspirations of doing just that were shattered in what seemed like the blink of an eye by tremendous display from Price and Clayton in the deciding pairs match to hand Wales a 2-1 win.

A common theme of Wales is the colour red, and that was a part of the board Price and Clayton consistently peppered throughout the decider. Early blushes were spared, though, as Jonny Clayton took out 32 for a 16 dart Welsh hold of throw, only after Henderson fluffed the chance to give the Scots the lead on tops.

The Scottish duo couldn’t take out 94 or 40 in the next leg to reduce the arrears, with Clayton the man on the spot once more to nail D16 for a second successive leg and a 2-0 lead. The Welshmen didn’t look back, taking the third and fourth legs  in two 14 darters to set up a mouth-watering  tie with Australia.

Australia took care of business themselves by seeing off a spirited Poland effort to cement their place in tomorrow’s tie.

Simon Whitlock and Kryzsztof Ratajski put on a marvellous show in the opening singles match of the session, with all legs won on throw. The Wizard took the first leg with a 16 dart hold on tops, before a 180 and 137 let Ratajski to nail D16 after just 13 darts in response. In the third leg, the pair share a maximum before Whitlock impressively took out 117 on tops for a 12 dart hold.

Back came Ratajski with a 19 dart hold to level at 2-2, who levelled again at 3-3 two legs later with a 13 dart hold on D16 after seeing Whitlock nudge ahead with a 17 dart hold of his own.

Ultimately, it was the Wizard who secured the first point for his nation with a 4-3 success, nipping into hit D10 with last dart in hand after Ratajski missed the bull for a match-winning 81.

That left Kryzsztof Kciuk needing to beat the red-hot Damon Heta to stand any chance of remaining in this year’s BetVictor World Cup, and it was the man from Perth who quickly established his intentions to send Australia through in double quick time.

Heta swiftly took a 2-0 lead in just 23 darts, averaging 130.7 in the process. In leg one, he had six perfect darts to set up a shot at 141 for a nine-darter. His seventh dart agonisingly strayed into the fives, but nonetheless it was an explosive start and set him up nicely to go on and complete the job.

Kciuk showed signs of a potential fight-back by holding throw in 16 darts for 2-1, but it did little to harm the result as Heta produced an 18 dart hold and 17 dart break to round off a splendid second round outing for the Aussies.

Netherlands and Germany avoid upsets to set up Quarter Final showdown

Netherlands advanced to the quarter final stage with a 2-0 victory over Spain and will meet Germany.

Michael van Gerwen blitzed his way to handing his nation a first point in a singles match with World Cup stalwart Toni Alcinas, averaging 105.86 in doing so.

The world number one took just 59 darts just complete a 4-0 whitewash, including a 112 finish to set the ball rolling in leg one.

Danny Noppert, meanwhile, was made to work superbly hard by Jesus Noguera for his eventual 4-3 victory, where the Spaniard missed crucial match darts.

A break apiece made it 1-1, and Noguera went on to take a 2-1 lead by showing great character to ping D10 whilst Noppert waited to pounce on 68. A dramatic fourth leg then went the way of the Dutchman, who missed six darts at double before eventually being allowed to return to secure a 20 dart hold on D4 after Noguera himself couldn’t make the most of those misses on D2 and D1.

Alicante native Noguera took a 3-2 lead to go one from a deciding pairs match having pinned a majestic 84 out on D11, but Noppert held straight back in 13 darts in a leg where he had seven perfect throws en route to a potential nine-darter.

The match ended in favour of the Netherlands 2-0 as Noppert limped over the line with a 4-3 singles victory. Noguera had a chance to take us to that decider with a shot at bull on a 167, before making a hash of three at D5 for 25 with Noppert ready to make amends of leaving 46 on a 137 out. The latter kept his nerve to send the Netherlands through to the next stage.

Germany maintained their quest for BetVictor World Cup glory by defeating Greece to progress and meet the Dutch.

Gabriel Clemens, who averaged just over 95, overcame the charismatic John Michael, but the events may well have turned out much, much different for the German Giant had Michael taken his plethora of chances on the outer ring.

A sign of things to come occurred in the very first leg. Michael missed two clear darts at tops, letting Clemens off the hook to complete an early 16 dart break.

Michael responded brilliantly to nail a 102 out on a 15 dart break of his own, and he had a golden opportunity to go 2-1 ahead in the contest. He let the chance slip, failing to take out 50 on tops, before busting an attempt at D10. Clemens would have been counting his lucky stars, eventually keeping his cool on his sixth board visit to nail D8 in 19 darts.

Fourth leg, same story. Two misses at tops for Michael took him to 1/9 on his doubles, once again letting Clemens off the hook after he can’t take out 64 initially. He makes Michael pay next time around, with a 16 dart hold on D16.

Germany eventually took a 1 point lead courtesy of Clemens nailing a stylish 130 to wrap up a 4-1 singles win, and the 2-0 match success was quickly achieved thanks to Max Hopp’s whitewash of Veniamin Symeonidis.

A beautiful 102 under pressure from Hopp, with his opponent waiting to pounce on 20, set the tone for what would turn out to be a solid performance from the Maximiser.

A break and hold in 17 darts stretched the lead to 3-0, before punishing four leg-winning darts from the Greek with a 90 out to complete a whitewash and confirm the quarter final spot.

 

Canada impressive, tale of two singles matches for Belgium

A stellar Saturday afternoon of second round action began with Canada, conquerors of Northern Ireland in the last 32, taking on New Zealand and it was to be the North Americans who prevailed on this occasion without fuss.

Jeff Smith defeated Haupai Puha in the first singles match to give Canada a 1-0 lead. Puha missed D16 on a 149 out to go 1-0 up, but instead lost that particular leg on the same double and former BDO world finalist Smith followed a break and a hold to move 3-0 ahead. Puha got a leg on the board to make it 3-1 with a 90 out after Smith couldn’t finish a 111 with last dart in hand, but the latter got over the line in the very next leg to win 4-1 and make it 1-0 to his nation.

In the second singles match, Cody Harris went 2-0 up on Matt Campbell, including a madhouse D1 finish and a punish of Campbell’s missed attempt at D16 for a 104. Campbell roared back with a 15 dart break of throw, and continued his impressive showing with a 13 dart hold on D6 to level the match.

Campbell narrowly missed the bull for a 121 to go 3-2 ahead, letting Harris in for a crucial 95. The New Zealander couldn’t clear it up, and Campbell completed the turnaround by clearing up his next visit; just 44 darts to complete the comeback for the Canadian. He wrapped up the 4-2 singles win and  2-0 overall win for Canada with a hold, and averaged 105.4 in the process.

They’ll meet Belgium in the next round, who advanced to the quarter finals despite the disappointment of Kim Huybrechts at their performance in the aftermath.

The Belgians overcame Latvia, who were in the second following their victory over Hong Kong having been called up to replace China at the eleventh hour.

Huybrechts opened up with a match against Janis Mustafejevs, and the writing was on the wall for the latter in the early part of the match as Kim waltzed into a 2-0 lead thanks a 19 dart hold followed by an impressive 14 dart break.

Mustafejevs’s luck seemed to elude him as three in hand at D16 gave him a shot at getting back into the contest, only for the last dart thrown to take a wicked deflection and bounce out. Huybrechts, cruelly it seemed, took advantage to go one leg from the match, which he duly managed in the very next sequence.

1-0 Belgium then, and it was World Matchplay champ Dimitri van Den Bergh’s turn against upcoming prodigy Madars Razma.

A slow start resulted in Razma stealing a 22 dart break, but undoes his hard work in the following leg by being unable to take out 48 from nine darts. Speaking of nine, that’s how many attempts it took Dimitri to finally nail a double in the exact same leg to somehow level at 1-1.

It certainly looked for a second like Razma might level the overall match for the Latvians having gone 3-1 to the good on the back of a 15 dart hold and a break of throw whilst punishing Van Den Bergh on his lack of efficient doubling.

Averaging just 74 at that point and 1/13 on the outer ring, Van den Bergh needed to significantly raise his standards to avoid having to play a pairs decider. He did just that, taking out a 25 on the return visit after Razma missed two match darts, and D12 on a 24 left from 118 to level the scores.

Van den Bergh showed his class when it proved most vital by taking out a 103 for the match with Razma waiting to pounce on 16; a huge sigh of relief for the Belgians, but job done.

Results and Schedule

Saturday November 7

Afternoon Session

4x Second Round

Canada 2-0 New Zealand

Singles One: Jeff Smith 4-1 Haupai Puha

Singles Two: Matt Campbell 4-2 Cody Harris

Doubles (not required)

Austria 2-0 Portugal

Singles One: Mensur Suljovic 4-2 Jose De Sousa

Singles Two: Rowby-John Rodriguez 4-1 Jose Marques

Doubles (not required):

Belgium 2-0 Latvia

Singles One: Kim Huybrechts 4-0 Janis Mustafejevs

Singles Two: Dimitri Van den Bergh 4-3 Madars Razma

Doubles (not required):

England 2-0 Lithuania

Singles One: Michael Smith 4-0 Darius Labanauskas

Singles Two: Rob Cross 4-2 Mindaugas Barauskas

Doubles (not required):

Evening Session

4x Second Round

Australia 2-0 Poland

Singles One: Simon Whitlock 4-3 Krzysztof Ratajski

Singles Two: Damon Heta 4-1 Krzysztof Kciuk

Doubles (not required):

Wales 2-1 Scotland

Singles One: Gerwyn Price 4-2 John Henderson

Singles Two: Jonny Clayton 2-4 Robert Thornton

Doubles: Wales 4-0 Scotland

Germany 2-0 Greece

Singles One: Gabriel Clemens 4-1 John Michael

Singles Two: Max Hopp 4-0 Veniamin Symeonidis

Doubles (not required):

Netherlands 2-0 Spain

Singles One: Michael van Gerwen 4-0 Toni Alcinas

Singles Two: Danny Noppert 4-3 Jesus Noguera

Doubles (not required):

Sunday November 8

Afternoon Session (1300 local time, 1200 GMT)

Quarter-Finals

Canada v Belgium

England v Austria

Wales v Australia

Netherlands v Germany