Van Gerwen and Wade Enter The Fray On Two Session Tuesday

Three time champion Michael van Gerwen and multiple major winner James Wade are the star acts as the 2024 Paddy Power World Darts Championship enters day five on Tuesday.

Evening Session

Michael van Gerwen, chasing a first world title since 2019, gets his assault on the title underway with a tie against Irishman Keane Barry. ‘The Green Machine’ was defeated by Michael Smith in the final twelve months ago and has since been on the losing side of two major finals, at the UK Open and Players Championships Finals. He did pick up a seventh Premier League title however and was also victorious at the World Series of Darts Finals in his home country back in September.

The Players Championships Finals defeat to Luke Humphries, having been in control at 9-5 in a race to 11, would have hurt the man from Vlijmen and he’ll be eager to reclaim his position at the top of the tungsten tree.

Barry, still only 21, beat Reynaldo Rivera of the Philippines in round one but will need to up his game and then some to topple the Dutchman.

Prior to that clash, Ricardo Pietreczko of Germany takes on Japan’s Mikuru Suzuki. Female player Suzuki will be hoping to make it through to round two on her second appearance at Ally Pally, while Pietreczko will be making his debut at the tournament after a breakout year. One thing that has been called into question is Pietreczko’s ability to handle a hostile environment, something he may get the chance to disprove if the crowd start to get behind the Japanese player. The winner takes on Callan Rydz in round two.

The evergreen Steve Beaton continues his monumental record of world championship appearances as he kicks off the evening’s action action against Wessel Nijman of the Netherlands with the winner taking on Daryl Gurney on Saturday afternoon.

Belgian Mike De Decker kicks off his campaign against Germany’s Dragutin Horvat. The German makes his second appearance at the Palace qualifying through the European Super League route while De Decker is yet to win a set in three previous visits. Latvian Madars Razma awaits the victor in round two.

Afternoon Session

Four time semi finalist James Wade is in action on Tuesday afternoon, kicking off his quest for a maiden world title against Canadian Matt Campbell. The three time UK Open winner will be hoping to improve on his second round defeat to Jim Williams twelve months ago, his earliest exit since 2018. Having reached the European Championships final and Grand Slam of Darts semi finals, ‘The Machine’ will be hoping to carry some of that form onto the Ally Pally stage.

Campbell defeated Lourance Ilagan in round one for his first victory at the tournament at the fifth time of asking so could well see the tie as somewhat of a ‘free hit’.

Kicking off the session, Ian White will be aiming to kickstart his career with a win of Japan’s Tomoya Goto. It’s been a lean couple of years for ‘Diamond White’ and he’ll be hoping the biggest stage of them is the place to get things going in the right direction again. Ryan Searle lies in wait in round two.

Ritchie Edhouse takes on Dutchman Jeffrey de Graaf in the afternoon’s second match. Jose de Sousa takes on the winner of that one.

Keegan Brown and Boris Krcmar lock horns in the remaining match of the session, Krcmar having qualified at the Tour Card holder qualifier. A second round tie with Dirk van Duijvenbode is the reward for the winner.

Tuesday’s Order of Play

Afternoon Session

Ian White v Tomoya Goto (R1)

Ritchie Edhouse v Jeffrey de Graaf (R1)

Keegan Brown v Boris Krcmar (R1)

(13) James Wade v Matt Campbell (R2)

Evening Session

Steve Beaton v Wessel Nijman (R1)

Mike De Decker v Dragutin Horvat (R1)

Ricardo Pietreczko v Mikuru Suzuki (R1)

(2) Michael van Gerwen v Keane Barry (R2)