Back at the end of May, we gave you our overview of the PDC World Matchplay. In that article we explored the history of this huge event as well as who has won it over the years.
This is a tournament which has been won by many of the best darts players of all time, including Phil Taylor whose name now adorns the trophy that he won a record 16 times.
This year’s event gets underway from the Winter Gardens in Blackpool on Saturday and it promises to be the biggest darts event of the summer!
Last year we backed the then in form Luke Humphries to do well in the event, but it was the top two players in the world, Michael van Gerwen and Gerwyn Price that reached the final.
And it was van Gerwen who claimed an 18-14 win over the Welshman to earn his third World Matchplay title, second only to 16-time champion Taylor.
This year’s event promises to be just as exciting as we will explore below.
The famous legs-based tournament gets underway this weekend at the Winter Gardens.
The top 16 players on the PDC Order of Merit qualify for the tournament as seeds, while 16 other players qualify from the PDC Pro Tour as qualifiers.
Michael van Gerwen will be defending the title he won last year, beating Gerwyn Price 18-14 in the final.
This year’s competition could be one of the toughest yet with some of the best players in history in the qualifiers including ex-world champions like Gary Anderson, Raymond van Barneveld, Steve Beaton and Stephen Bunting.
In fact there are the same number of ex-World Champions in the qualifiers, as there are in the 16 top seeds (Michael van Gerwen, Gerwyn Price, Peter Wright, Rob Cross and current world champ, Michael Smith)
Also competing will be hugely talented Josh Rock, the 22 year old Irishman who is the current PDC World Youth Champion and who is now ranked 29th in the world after his second year as a PDC professional.
The draw is a seeded draw with the structure of the draw meaning that players can see who they will play in their next match.
For the second round games, the winner of match 1 plays the winner of match 2, winner of match 3 takes on winner of match 4 and so on.
This pattern is repeated until the final is decided.
A look at the latest odds from bet365 Sport reveals the following:
Clearly the bookmakers think that the men’s event is a three-way battle between Price, van Gerwen and Smith. Josh Rock’s chances at 16/1 are more indicative of his popularity with punters than his realistic chances of winning this event I feel.
For me, the improved form of Peter Wright in 2023 makes him a very appealing bet at 16/1, even if you decide to back him each way.
So with the men’s tournament preview in the bag, let’s now see how the women’s event is shaping up.
Last year, Fallon Sherrock defeated Aileen de Graaf in the final of the women’s tournament and she will be back this year to defend her title.
Only three women will return from the eight that competed last year (seeding shown in brackets); Fallon Sherrock (3rd), Lisa Ashton (6th) and Aileen de Graaf (7th).
A number of players will be making their World Matchplay debut including Beau Graves and Mikuru Suzuki, who are the number 1 and 2 seeds respectively. Robin Byrne (4th), Rhian O’Sullivan (5th) and Noa-Lynn van Leuven (8th) are the others making their first appearance in the event.
All matches in the women’s tournament are played before the men’s final on Sunday 23rd July.
A look at the latest odds on the women’s tournament with bet365 reveals the following:
The 19-year-old Greaves has won the WDF World Championship, World Masters, Australian Open and Dutch Open in 2022.
This year, the wonderfully nicknamed ‘Beau ‘N Arrow’ has added plenty more silverware to the cupboard. It includes the Isle of Man Classic, Isle of Man Masters, Isle of Man Open, Romanian Classic, Romanian Open, Welsh Classic and Welsh Open titles. Plus Greaves has landed seven wins in the PDC Women’s series from just 11 events so far this season.
Greaves is the obvious pick to do well in her first World Matchplay, with Sherrock and Suzuki likely to be battling out to face her in the final.
However, before the women play, the men’s tournament gets underway this weekend, so remember to tune in for top darts betting at bet365 throughout the tournament!
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