2017 William Hill World Championship – 30th December Preview
Friday December 30
Quarter-Finals
Afternoon Session (1pm)
James Wade (6) v Peter Wright (3)
Wade
- James Wade had to come from behind to edge out Michael Smith 4-3 and ensure his place in the quarter-finals. Wade had lost six of the first seven legs to trail 2-0 and was on the verge of being eliminated when 3-1 down, he somehow managed to turn the match around and won each of the last three sets (each of the last two sets were won 3-0 by Wade).
- Wade’s double success percentage during the tournament so far is 47.44%, that’s the second highest of any player in the quarter-finals (Peter Wright has the highest).
- This is Wade’s 8th appearance in the quarter-finals at the PDC World Championship. He has won three and lost four of his previous seven World Championship quarter-final matches.
- Wade has lost 5-1 in each of his last two World Championship quarter-final appearances; those defeats were against Gary Anderson (at last year’s tournament) and Adrian Lewis (three years ago).
Wright
- Peter Wright defeated Ian White 4-1 in the last 16, Wright took control of the match from the start and dropped only one leg in the first three sets, although White did rally a little he never looked likely to overturn Wright’s lead.
- Wright has only lost one set in his three matches so far, that’s the fewest of any of the quarter-finalists.
- Wright’s average against Ian White was 103.05, that’s the fifth consecutive World Championship match where he has averaged over 100, and in four of those five matches he has averaged over 103.
- Wright’s double success percentage in the opening three rounds is superior to any of the other remaining seven players. During the tournament Wright has hit 58.62% of his double attempts.
- This will be Wright’s 4th consecutive appearance in the quarter-finals at the World Championship. He defeated Wes Newton 5-4 at this stage of the tournament three years ago on his way to the final but in each of the last two years he has been eliminated in the quarter-finals (by Gary Anderson two years ago and Adrian Lewis last year).
- All of Peter Wright’s eight World Championship defeats came against players who had either won a World Championship or have gone to win one since. Those players are Adrian Lewis, Gary Anderson, Michael van Gerwen (three times), Jelle Klaasen, Phil Taylor and Richie Burnett.
Head to Head (Wade leads 14-9)
James Wade has the lead on their overall head to head record but this is mainly due to winning eleven of their first thirteen encounters. More recently Wright has won five of their last six meetings, including a 6-2 win last month in the last 32 at the Players Championship Finals. This will be first time they have met in a World Championship match.
Gary Anderson (2) v Dave Chisnall (7)
Anderson
- Gary Anderson came through a tough test in a high quality encounter against Benito van de Pas in the last 16. Anderson had led 3-0 only for van de Pas to pull two sets back before Anderson wrapped up the match in the sixth set. To give an idea of the standard Anderson played at, he averaged 114 in going two sets up, having hit eight 180s with no missed darts at a double.
- Anderson’s final match average of 107.68 was his second highest in a World Championship match and the 102.3 average of van de Pas was the highest anyone has ever had in a World Championship match against Anderson.
- The win over van de Pas has taken Anderson’s consecutive winning streak at the World Championship to 15 matches won in a row.
- Anderson has won 5-1 in his quarter-final match in each of the last two years on his way to winning his two World Championship titles.
- Interestingly all four of Anderson’s PDC World Championship quarter-finals prior to today have finished 5-1 (in those matches he has defeated Wright, Wade and van Barneveld; his sole defeat came against Whitlock).
Chisnall
- Dave Chisnall won 4-2 in the last 16 against Jelle Klaasen, Chisnall had led 3-1 in sets and was two legs to nil up in the fifth set only for Klaasen to win five legs in a row to be just one leg away from levelling the match at 3-3, Chisnall responded to the challenge and won three straight legs to snatch the set and book his place in the quarter-finals.
- Chisnall has appeared in the quarter-finals at the BDO World Championship in the year he reached the final (2010), but this is his first ever PDC World Championship quarter-final match.
- Chisnall has hit a total of 27 scores of 180 over his three matches, that’s the highest total of any player in the tournament.
- Chisnall has won his last seven quarter-final matches in PDC tournaments, that sequence includes a 10-7 win over Gary Anderson at the Perth Masters in August.
Head to Head (Anderson leads 12-4)
Gary Anderson has a good winning record against Dave Chisnall having won twelve of their sixteen meetings. Chisnall did win their last encounter which was at the Perth Masters in August (as mentioned above), that win by Chisnall came after Anderson had beaten him six times in a row. This is only the second time they have faced each other in a PDC major ranking tournament, the only other time was earlier this year at the UK Open when Anderson won 9-7 in the last 64.
Evening Session (7pm)
Michael van Gerwen (1) v Daryl Gurney (24)
Van Gerwen
- Michael van Gerwen had a 4-1 win over Darren Webster in the last 16, the match was a lot tougher than the score suggests with Webster pushing van Gerwen hard in many of the legs, van Gerwen responded with some top class darts at key moments.
- That win increased van Gerwen’s winning streak to 25 consecutive victories since losing to Daryl Gurney at the German Darts Championship in October.
- Van Gerwen’s average against Webster was 104.44 which pushed his overall tournament average to 104.58, the highest of any player in the tournament.
- Overall van Gerwen has averaged over 103 in each of his last five World Championship matches.
- Since losing to van Barneveld in the last 16 at the 2016 World Championship van Gerwen has now won 37 consecutive matches in PDC televised ranking tournaments and if he wins today he will have won all his PDC televised ranking matches played during 2016.
- Van Gerwen has won all three of his previous PDC World Championship quarter-final matches. Those wins came against Adrian Lewis, Mark Webster and Robert Thornton. So wins against an Englishman, a Welshman and a Scotsman, will he add a Northern Irishman to that list?
Gurney
- Daryl Gurney won 4-3 in a tense last 16 encounter against Mark Webster to reach the quarter-finals. Gurney had come from a set behind to lead 3-1 only for Webster to take the match into a last set decider with Gurney having missed darts at double to win the match 4-2. Gurney eventually got over the line in the seventh and final set.
- This is Gurney’s first appearance in a World Championship quarter-final and he is the first Northern Irishman to make it through to this stage of the PDC World Championship.
- Gurney has played a total of eighteen sets to reach the quarter-finals, that’s the most of any of the eight players who are left in the tournament.
- Gurney’s tournament average of 94.39 and double success percentage of 34.96% are the lowest figures posted by the eight quarter-finalists.
Head to Head (van Gerwen leads 6-2)
Michael van Gerwen has won six of their previous eight meetings but it was Daryl Gurney who came out on top when they last met, winning 6-4 at the German Darts Championship in October. Prior to that match van Gerwen had won their last five encounters (four of which were played during 2016). In their only previous match in a televised ranking tournament van Gerwen had a comprehensive 11-2 win in the semi-finals at the 2015 Players Championship Finals.
Raymond van Barneveld (12) v Phil Taylor (4)
Van Barneveld
- Raymond van Barneveld came from 3-2 down to win 4-3 against the fifth seed Adrian Lewis in the last 16.
- Statistically the win vs Lewis was van Barneveld’s weakest performance in the tournament so far. His match average, first nine dart average, double success percentage, 180 ratio and high finish were all lower than his previous two matches.
- This is the 17th time that Raymond van Barneveld has reached the quarter-finals at a World Championship (PDC and BDO included). During his previous 16 World Championship quarter-final matches he has lost only 3 times.
- Van Barneveld has lost just 1 of his 7 quarter-final matches at the PDC World Championship (that sole defeat was against Gary Anderson).
- Van Barneveld has won 5-4 during each of the last two years at this stage of the World Championship, his wins coming against Stephen Bunting and Michael Smith.
- This is the 5th time that van Barneveld has reached the quarter-finals at the PDC World Championship as a player who hasn’t been seeded in the top eight for the tournament.
Taylor
- Phil Taylor won 4-2 against Kim Huybrechts in the last 16. At 3-0 Taylor looked to be on course for a comfortable win only for Huybrechts to claw his way back into the match before Taylor managed to get over the line.
- Taylor averaged over 100 throughout his last 16 match and finished with a match average of 101.37 which was similar to the average in his opening round game and a big improvement from the 92.73 average against Kevin Painter in round two.
- This will be Taylor’s 24th World Championship quarter-final appearance. He has won 20 and lost just 3 of his previous 23 matches at this stage of a World Championship tournament (PDC and BDO included).
- Phil Taylor will be playing his 130th World Championship match today. His match win/loss record is: Played 129 Won 118 Lost 11.
Head to Head (Taylor leads 56-16, they have also drawn four matches in the Premier League)
Phil Taylor and Raymond van Barneveld have met so many times over the years, Taylor has a very good overall winning record in their meetings but in recent games the outcomes have been a lot more even. Since they met in the semi-finals at the 2015 World Championship they have played nine times with Taylor winning five times and van Barneveld winning four times. They have met four times previously at the World Championship and this is the first time they have faced each other before the semi-final stage. Taylor has won their last three encounters at the World Championship, the most recent of which was a 6-2 win in the semi-finals at the 2015 World Championship. Barney’s World Championship win over Taylor was the famous 7-6 victory in the 2007 final.
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