2017 William Hill World Championship – Day Eight Preview
Thursday December 22 (7pm)
Jelle Klaasen (10) v Jeffrey de Graaf
Klaasen
- 2006 BDO Champion Jelle Klaasen is competing at his 11th World Championship tournament (it’s his 9th PDC World Championship appearance).
- Last year he had his best run at the PDC World Championship when he reached the semi-finals before losing to Gary Anderson, earlier in the tournament Klaasen had defeated 16-time World Champion Phil Taylor in the last 16.
- It was also Gary Anderson who ended Klaasen’s World Championship hopes two years ago, Klaasen had led their last 16 encounter 3-1 only for Anderson to produce a tremendous performance in winning the final 3 sets.
- Overall Klaasen has won 4 and lost 4 of his 8 previous first round matches at the PDC World Championship.
- His average of 102.54 against Joe Cullen in the first round last year was his highest ever World Championship average.
de Graaf
- Jeffrey de Graaf is making his PDC World Championship debut having made the switch from the BDO earlier this year. He appeared at the Lakeside in each of the last four years but failed to get through the first round on each occasion.
- Two of his four first round defeats at the Lakeside came against fellow Dutchmen; he lost on his debut to Jan Dekker and last year he was beaten by Richard Veenstra.
- He has yet to reach a ranking tournament quarter-final on the PDC tour but has posted a 9 dart finish already during his time in the PDC (the 9 dart finish was away from the TV stage in a Players Championship tournament in September).
Head to Head
This is the first time Klaasen and de Graaf have met in a PDC tournament.
Vincent van der Voort (20) v Max Hopp
van der Voort
- Vincent van der Voort is appearing at his 10th consecutive PDC World Championship, overall it’s the 16th time has appeared at a World Championship tournament having featured 6 times at the Lakeside during his time in the BDO.
- He has a perfect record in the first round at the PDC World Championship, having won all of the 9 first matches he has played so far.
- Van der Voort has never lost to an unseeded player at the PDC World Championship; he has played a total of 12 matches against unseeded players and has won them all.
- Seven of his nine defeats at the PDC World Championship have been against players seeded in the top eight; the other two defeats came against world finalists Kevin Painter and Andy Hamilton.
- The only players to have beaten van der Voort at the PDC World Championship are Gary Anderson, Phil Taylor, James Wade (twice), Adrian Lewis (three times), Kevin Painter and Andy Hamilton.
Hopp
- 20 year old Max Hopp is competing at the PDC World Championship for the 5th consecutive year. He has exited the tournament in the first round in 3 of his previous 4 visits to the Alexandra Palace.
- His only first round win came against Mervyn King two years ago in a match that went all the way to a deciding set. Hopp’s average in that match was over 96 and he hit an impressive total of 10 180s.
- It was van der Voort who defeated Hopp in the second round two years ago, winning four sets without reply.
Head to Head (van der Voort leads 2-0)
They have met twice previously and van der Voort has taken the honours on both occasions. As mentioned above they played at the World Championship two years ago with van der Voort winning 4-0, their most recent encounter was in September at the European Darts Trophy where the Dutchman won 6-1.
Dave Chisnall (7) v Rowby-John Rodriguez
Chisnall
- Former BDO finalist Dave Chisnall is making his 9th consecutive World Championship appearance, it’s his 6th time in the PDC World Championship and he is yet to go further than the last 16.
- Chisnall is the number 7 seed at this year’s tournament, he has been the number 7 seed before (3 years ago) on that occasion it wasn’t lucky number 7 as Chisnall suffered his only first round defeat at the PDC World Championship when he lost 3-2 to John Henderson.
- All four of Chisnall’s first round victories at the PDC World Championship have been won without dropping a set (including a 3-0 win against Rowby-John Rodriguez last year).
- Chisnall has reached two TV tournament finals during 2016 (Masters and Players Championship Finals).
Rodriguez
- Rowby-John Rodriguez is participating at the PDC World Championship for the third year in a row and he is looking to get through the first round for the first time.
- He has yet to win a set at the World Championship having lost 3-0 to both Raymond van Barneveld and Dave Chisnall.
- His average against van Barneveld two years ago was 79, last year against Chisnall it was 89, is he due a 99 average this year?
Head to Head (Chisnall leads 2-1)
Chisnall leads their overall head to head record with two wins to one, but it was Rodriguez who came out on top when they last met (at a UK Open qualifier back in February). Both of Chisnall’s wins have been in TV tournaments, he won a group stage match at the 2014 Grand Slam as well as their first round match at last year’s World Championship as mentioned above.
Kim Huybrechts (13) v James Wilson
Huybrechts
- Kim Huybrechts is making his 6th consecutive PDC World Championship appearance; his best performance came on his debut when he reached the quarter-finals before losing to eventual runner-up Andy Hamilton.
- He has lost in the first round on two occasions, and both defeats were in last set deciders against unseeded players (Scott Rand in the 2013 World Championship and Dave Pallett last year).
- Huybrechts has hit a ton plus checkout in each of his last 10 World Championship matches.
- All five of his World Championship defeats have been against Englishmen (Andy Hamilton, Scott Rand, Ian White, Phil Taylor and Dave Pallett).
Wilson
- James Wilson is making his PDC World Championship debut, though he did feature on 3 occasions at the Lakeside during his time in the BDO. His best performance at the Lakeside was a run to the quarter-finals in 2014 where he was eventually beaten by Alan Norris.
- At a Players Championship tournament in September he reached his first ranking final since he switched to the PDC, he also reached three consecutive semi-finals on the PDC circuit during the summer.
- His best performance in a TV ranking tournament this year was a quarter-final appearance at the European Championship, on his way to the quarter-final he defeated Kim Huybrechts in round one.
Head to Head (Huybrechts leads 2-1)
Kim Huybrechts has won 2 of their 3 previous meetings but it was Wilson who came out on top the last time they played, which was at the European Championship only a couple of month ago (as mentioned above). The previous two matches which went the way of Kim Huybrechts were both played in 2015 in non TV tournaments.
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