2017 William Hill World Championship – Day Six Preview
Tuesday December 20 (7pm)
Boris Koltsov v Dragutin Horvat – Preliminary Round
Koltsov
- Boris Koltsov is competing at the PDC World Championship for the second time having made his debut two years ago.
- On his debut he defeated Muramatsu of Japan in the prelim round before losing 3-1 to Kevin Painter in the first round where he averaged 78 (all of the sets in his match against Painter only lasted 3 legs each).
Horvat
- Dragutin Horvat is making his World Championship debut at this year’s tournament.
- He notably reached the quarter-finals of the International Darts Open on the European Tour in September. On his way to the last eight he defeated Ricky Evans, Gerwyn Price and Ian White (he averaged over 90 in all 3 matches, with his average against White being just under 100) before losing to Kim Huybrechts.
Head to Head
This is their first competitive meeting in the PDC.
Brendan Dolan (23) v Christian Kist
Dolan
- Brendan Dolan is making his 9th consecutive appearance at the PDC World Championship, that’s the most appearances of any player from Northern Ireland at a World Championship.
- Dolan has won his first round match at the World Championship on 5 of his 8 appearances, but he has never made it past round two.
- 7 of his 8 first round matches at the World Championship have only lasted 3 sets. His last 4 wins at the tournament have been without dropping a set.
- Since losing in the first round at the World Championship last year he has won his opening round matches in every TV tournament he has played (UK Open, World Matchplay, World Grand Prix, Grand Slam and Players Championship Finals).
Kist
- 2012 BDO champion Christian Kist is appearing in the PDC World Championship for the 3rd consecutive year.
- On his PDC World Championship debut two years ago he lost out in a very tough opening round match against Jelle Klaasen. Last year he defeated Justin Pipe in round one before losing 4-1 to Dave Chisnall in a match where Chisnall averaged 102.85.
- He won 5 matches in 2012 on his World Championship debut to lift the BDO title and has only won 2 of 5 World Championship matches since then.
- Kist enters the tournament having reached his first PDC major quarter-final at the recent Players Championship Finals.
Head to Head (Dolan leads 3-1)
Brendan Dolan has won 3 of their 4 previous encounters including a 6-5 win in their most recent meeting which was in September at the European Darts Grand Prix. This is the first time they have met in a major ranking tournament.
Raymond van Barneveld (12) v Robbie Green
van Barneveld
- Five-time World Champion Raymond van Barneveld is competing at his 25th World Championship since making his debut all the way back in 1991.
- This is his 11th consecutive appearance at the PDC World Championship; he made his debut at the 2007 tournament where he defeated Phil Taylor in a classic final.
- He has only lost once in the first round at the PDC World Championship; that defeat came against James Richardson in the 2012 tournament. Since then he reached the semi-finals in 3 of the last 4 years.
- Van Barneveld has won 3-0 in 8 of his 10 first round matches at the PDC World Championship.
Green
- Robbie Green will be making his first appearance at the PDC World Championship though he has previously appeared at a World Championship tournament 5 times during his time in the BDO.
- He only suffered one first round defeat at the Lakeside and reached at least the quarter-finals on the last 3 occasions he participated at the Lakeside (this included a run to the semi-finals in 2014 where he lost to the eventual champion Stephen Bunting).
- Green reached the quarter-finals at the recent Players Championship Finals where he was beaten by tournament runner-up Dave Chisnall.
Head to Head (They are level with one win each).
Raymond van Barneveld and Robbie Green have met twice previously and they each have one win to their name. Their most recent clash was at a Players Championship tournament in October where Green won 6-5. Previously they faced each other at the 2014 Grand Slam of Darts with van Barneveld claiming a 5-3 win in their group stage fixture.
Simon Whitlock (17) v Koltsov/Horvat
Whitlock
- Simon Whitlock is competing at a World Championship for the 14th He is a former-finalist at both the BDO and PDC World Championship tournaments and has lost in the semi-finals on three occasions.
- Whitlock has exited the tournament in the opening round in each of the last two years, last year he lost to Ricky Evans and the year before he was ousted by Darren Webster. Prior to his defeat by Webster two years ago he had never lost in the first round at a World Championship tournament.
- Whitlock has won two PDC ranking tournaments this season; both came during October at Players Championship tournaments.
Head to Head
Whitlock has no previous meetings against either Koltsov or Horvat.
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