2017 William Hill World Championship – Day Nine Preview
Second Round
Friday December 23
Afternoon Session (1pm)
Ian White (14) v Jonny Clayton
White
- In the first round White had a 3-0 win over preliminary round winner Kevin Simm.
- He hit a crucial 130 finish after Simm had missed three darts at double to level the match at one set all.
- That 130 checkout was White’s highest ever checkout at the PDC World Championship.
- White’s average against Simm of 87.20 was his second lowest ever at the PDC World Championship.
- White is through to the second round at the PDC World Championship for the third time, he has won one and lost one of those matches (both games were against Kim Huybrechts).
Clayton
- Jonny Clayton defeated 19th seed Gerwyn Price 3-1 in the opening round to make a winning start on his World Championship debut.
- Clayton recovered from losing the opening set against Price to win three sets in a row to ensure his place in round two.
- A 116 finish for Clayton in the final leg of the 2nd set was pivotal and he followed it up with a 120 finish in the first leg of the 3rd
- He hit just a single score of 180 against Price which came in the 2nd leg of the match so he has gone 16 legs since last hitting one.
Head to Head
This is the first competitive meeting between Ian White and Jonny Clayton
Michael Smith (11) v Mervyn King (22)
Smith
- Michael Smith twice had to come from behind to defeat Ricky Evans 3-2 in the first round.
- Trailing 2-1 in sets and 1-0 in the 4th set he won six legs in a row to win through to the second round.
- His highest checkout against Evans was 143; Smith has now had a checkout of at least 130 in eight of his last ten World Championship matches.
- Smith is through to the second round for the fourth consecutive year and he has a 100% winning second round record, with wins against Phil Taylor, Brendan Dolan and Steve Beaton.
- He has averaged over 95 in each of his last 9 World Championship matches
- Smith needs nine 180s to bring his total to 100 180s scored overall in World Championship matches.
King
- Mervyn King won 3-2 in an epic tussle against Steve West in round one; it was a match that went all the way to a tenth leg in the fifth and final set.
- He had trailed by two sets to nil and had to survive missed match darts from West to keep his tournament hopes alive. King impressively checked out 136, 140, 95 and 106 within the space of six legs during the match.
- He is aiming to get through the second round for only the second time since the 2009 World Championship.
- King’s only win at this stage of the tournament since 2009 was against Ricky Evans three years ago.
- He has only had one match average over 95 during his last eight World Championship matches.
- King has never won a PDC World Championship match against a higher seeded opponent or indeed an opponent seeded in the top 16.
Head to Head (King leads 6-3)
Mervyn King has the overall lead in their head to head record but Michael Smith has the upper hand in recent meetings having won three out of their last four encounters. This is the first time they have faced each other since 2015.
Benito van de Pas (15) v Terry Jenkins (18)
Van de Pas
- Benito van de Pas overcame preliminary round winner Tengku Shah 3-1 in the first round, van de Pas crucially won the opening set despite Shah having first dart at double in all five legs.
- The doubling of van de Pas was the most impressive part of his game in the opening round; he hit 61.1% of his attempts.
- He has never failed to get through round two in two previous attempts, having defeated Dave Chisnall and Dimitri Van den Bergh (he won both matches 4-2).
Jenkins
- Terry Jenkins came from a set down to win 3-1 against Josh Payne in his opening round match of the tournament.
- Jenkins had missed darts at double to win the opening set, from there he went on to win nine of the next twelve legs, although he did have to survive missed darts from Payne which would have taken the match into a deciding set.
- That run of winning legs from Jenkins included impressive back to back checkouts of 140 and 121 in the fourth set.
- He exited the tournament in the second round last year with a 4-0 defeat against Mark Webster.
- Jenkins has never registered a win at the World Championship against a higher seeded opponent.
Head to Head (Benito van de Pas leads 3-2)
Benito van de Pas and Terry Jenkins have met five times previously with neither player establishing a run of more than one win in a row. They have faced each other twice in 2016 with Benito van de Pas taking the honours most recently in the last 16 at the World Grand Prix.
Evening Session (7pm)
Darren Webster v Simon Whitlock (17)
Webster
- Darren Webster came from behind twice to defeat 16th seed Stephen Bunting 3-2 in an enthralling first round match. Webster had to survive seven missed match darts at double from Bunting in the fifth set.
- During his win over Bunting he hit eight 180’s and took out big finishes of 157, 147 and 140.
- This is the third year in a row that he has made it into the second round; though he has suffered exits against Dean Winstanley and Michael van Gerwen in the last two years.
- Webster’s only World Championship appearance when he progressed further than the second round was ten years ago.
Whitlock
- Simon Whitlock only dropped one leg in a comfortable 3-0 win over preliminary round winner Dragutin Horvat to reach round two for the first time in three years.
- Whitlock closed out the match with checkouts of 170 and 158 in the final two legs of his match winning third set.
- He has a 100% winning record in the second round at the PDC World Championship having played six matches and won them all at this stage of the competition.
- During his six second round wins at the PDC World Championship he has played 26 sets and won 24 of them.
Head to Head (Darren Webster leads 3-1)
Darren Webster has the winning record over their four previous meetings and has won their two most high profile encounters. The first time they met was in the first round of the 2015 World Championship where Webster won 3-1 and their most recent meeting was last month at the Players Championship Finals when Webster won 6-3 on his way to reaching the semi-finals.
Gary Anderson (2) v Andrew Gilding
Anderson
- Reigning champion Gary Anderson had a very comfortable 3-0 win over Mark Frost on the opening night of the tournament.
- That win was Anderson’s 13th win in a row at the World Championship having not lost since van Gerwen defeated him back in December 2013.
- Since losing in the second round on his debut at the PDC World Championship he has never failed to get past second round in six attempts.
- Anderson has never been defeated by an unseeded player at the PDC World Championship.
Gilding
- Andrew Gilding came from two sets down to win 3-2 in a titanic first round battle against John Henderson in round one. It was a match that went all the way to the eleventh and final leg in the fifth set.
- Gilding had impressively taken out back to back checkouts of 101 and 143 to take the match into the final set.
- During the match against Henderson he hit a total of eight 180s which is his highest total in a World Championship match.
- This is Gilding’s second successive appearance in the second round, last year he was soundly beaten 4-0 by Adrian Lewis at this stage of the tournament.
Head to Head (Gary Anderson leads 3-0)
This will be the fourth time they have met and Gary Anderson has yet to taste defeat against Gilding, though all three matches went to a last leg decider (6-5 in each case). All three encounters were in non-televised tournaments.
Adrian Lewis (5) v Joe Cullen (28)
Lewis
- Adrian Lewis came through the first round with a 3-0 win over Magnus Caris, extending his record of having never lost in the opening round at the World Championship.
- In eleven previous second round World Championship matches he has only ever lost once, that defeat came at the 2009 World Championship against Paul Nicholson.
- Last year’s second round 4-0 win over Andrew Gilding was the first time he had won his second round match without dropping a set.
- Lewis has averaged over 100 in the second round in each of the last three years.
- Overall in best of 7 set matches at the World Championship his record is: Played 21 Won 18 Lost 3 (all 3 defeats were in a last set decider).
Cullen
- Joe Cullen came through a very tough first round match against Corey Cadby, Cullen eventually winning 3-1 after losing the opening set.
- It was a match of the highest quality, after three sets Cullen was averaging 109 and Cadby was averaging 107.
- This is the first time that Cullen has appeared in round two of the World Championship having ended a run of six consecutive first round defeats.
Head to Head (Adrian Lewis leads 9-1)
Adrian Lewis has a very good overall win record against Joe Cullen having won nine of their ten meetings, including nine in a row after Cullen won their first encounter. Digging a little deeper into the results shows the recent matches between them have been very close despite the dominance of Lewis; five of their last six matches have gone all the way to a last leg decider. This will be their first meeting in a televised tournament.
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