2019-20 PDC World Darts Championship – 3 Dart Analyst predicts the bracket
3 Dart Analyst casts his eye over the 2019-20 PDC World Championship draw and predicts how it might play out...
FIRST QUARTER
(1) Michael van Gerwen vs Jelle Klaasen/Kevin Burness
(32) Ricky Evans vs Mark McGeeney/Matt Campbell
(16) Jonny Clayton vs Ryan Joyce/Jan Dekker
(17) Stephen Bunting vs Arron Monk/Jose Justicia
(8) James Wade vs Ritchie Edhouse/Boris Koltsov
(25) Steve Beaton vs Kyle Anderson/Xiaochen Zong
(9) Ian White vs Darius Labanauskas/Matthew Edgar
(24) Max Hopp vs Gabriel Clemens/Benito van de Pas
THE PREDICTION
The standout name in this quarter is obviously the defending champion and number one seed Michael van Gerwen. The path ahead of the dominant Dutchman looks to be straight forward for him – at least up until the quarter-finals where he would face possibly James Wade, Ian White or Gabriel Clemens. None of that trio would be a pushover for Van Gerwen but with the format in the last eight being played over the best-of-nine sets, it is unlikely that they will oust Mighty Mike from the tournament.
WINNER – Michael van Gerwen
SECOND QUARTER
(5) Gary Anderson vs Brendan Dolan/Nitin Kumar
(28) Steve West vs Ryan Searle/Robbie King
(12) Nathan Aspinall vs Andy Boulton/Danny Baggish
(21) Krzysztof Ratajski vs Jamie Hughes/Zoran Lerchbacher
(4) Michael Smith vs Luke Woodhouse/Paul Lim
(29) Dimitri Van den Bergh vs Josh Payne/Diogo Portela
(13) Adrian Lewis vs Cristo Reyes/Lourence Ilagan
(20) Darren Webster vs Ryan Meikle/Yuki Yamada
THE PREDICTION
Two former back-to-back winners of the PDC World Darts Championship in Gary Anderson and Adrian Lewis are in this section of the draw, though neither are in the type of form that saw them taste success here so this prediction is going elsewhere. Nathan Aspinall is very capable of matching his run to the semi-finals last year but he does face a tricky section of the draw with the dangerous Ratajski lurking, not to mention Anderson who can’t be entirely written off of course. The 2018-19 runner-up Michael Smith has a good path to the quarter-finals, and if he gets into full flow, he could be in red-hot form by this point, resulting in a place in the last four.
WINNER – Michael Smith
THIRD QUARTER
(2) Rob Cross vs Kim Huybrechts/Geert Nentjes
(31) Danny Noppert vs Steve Lennon/Callan Rydz
(15) Joe Cullen vs James Wilson/Nico Kurz
(18) Jermaine Wattimena vs Luke Humphries/Devon Petersen
(7) Peter Wright vs Rowby-John Rodriguez/Noel Malicdem
(26) Keegan Brown vs Mickey Mansell/Seigo Asada
(10) Dave Chisnall vs Vincent van der Voort/Keane Barry
(23) Jeffrey de Zwaan vs Raymond van Barneveld/Darin Young
THE PREDICTION
The highest seed in this section is the number two seed Rob Cross, who famously won the PDC World Championship title on his debut at the 2017-18 tournament. Cross has won a couple of big ranking tournaments in 2019 and he should be able to negotiate his passage to the quarter-finals. The challenge for Cross would be much tougher there though, with Peter Wright and Dave Chisnall the main contenders to meet Voltage in the quarters. Chisnall has enjoyed a great resurgence in form in 2019 and his bursts of brilliance give him an excellent chance over the set play format of taking out Wright and then Cross.
WINNER – Dave Chisnall
FOURTH QUARTER
(6) Daryl Gurney vs Justin Pipe/Benjamin Pratnemer
(27) Glen Durrant vs Jose De Sousa/Damon Heta
(11) Mensur Suljovic vs Ted Evetts/Fallon Sherrock
(22) Chris Dobey vs Ron Meulenkamp/Ben Robb
(3) Gerwyn Price vs William O'Connor/Marko Kantele
(30) John Henderson vs James Richardson/Mikuru Suzuki
(14) Simon Whitlock vs Harry Ward/Madars Razma
(19) Mervyn King vs Ross Smith/Ciaran Teehan
THE PREDICTION
Gerwyn Price has taken his game to a new level in the latter part of 2019, especially with his performance in successfully defending the Grand Slam of Darts title, which included a landmark victory against Van Gerwen along the way. The Welshman does have some potential stumbling blocks in his way of reaching the quarter-final but it could have been a lot tougher. The top section of this draw is a very difficult one to call with Gurney, Durrant, De Sousa, Suljovic and Dobey all viable contenders to meet Price in the last eight but the number three seed is playing with such belief and class that he won’t mind who he plays and it is hard to back against him making the last four.
WINNER – Gerwyn Price
SEMI-FINALS & FINAL
The predicted quarter-final winners would throw up semi-final clashes of Michael van Gerwen vs Michael Smith and Dave Chisnall vs Gerwyn Price – both very tantalising encounters indeed! Van Gerwen has had much the better of Smith in their meetings in the big events and it is likely he will be too strong for the man from St Helens again. In the bottom half of the draw, the fact that Chizzy and Price have not met very often on the big stage makes this match even all the more interesting; it’s a contest that really could go all the way to a deciding set but Price’s superb belief right now could be the difference in getting him over the line.
A Van Gerwen vs Price final would definitely be a great start to 2020. They have been the best two players coming into the tournament and the thought of them going toe-to-toe over the best-of-13 sets is mouth-watering. Having beaten Van Gerwen for the first time recently, the Welshman no longer has that hanging over his head and maybe the pressure Van Gerwen will put on himself to win back-to-back World titles for the first time might affect his game. Price to win 7-5 in a thrilling final is the prediction.
