2019-20 PDC World Darts Championship – Jamie Hughes vs Zoran Lerchbacher Preview & Prediction
THE FACTS
When is Jamie Hughes vs Zoran Lerchbacher taking place? Saturday 14th December, 2019 – evening
Where is Jamie Hughes vs Zoran Lerchbacher taking place? Alexandra Palace, London
What channel is Jamie Hughes vs Zoran Lerchbacher on? Sky Sports Darts
Where can I stream Jamie Hughes vs Zoran Lerchbacher? Sky Sports subscribers can stream the match online via Sky Go
Where can I get tickets for Jamie Hughes vs Zoran Lerchbacher? https://www.pdc.tv/william-hill-world-darts-championship-tickets
What was the outcome in the last meeting? Jamie Hughes beat Zoran Lerchbacher 6-3
THE PLAYERS
JAMIE HUGHES
- Jamie Hughes is making his PDC World Championship debut, though he did feature in the BDO version on four occasions and twice reached the semi-finals where he lost to Scott Waites in 2016 and Glen Durrant in 2017.
- Hughes won his PDC tour card at the start of 2019 – having previously missed out on doing so in 2018 – and has tasted success on the PDC tour this season with a triumph at the Czech Darts Open in Prague on the Euro Tour in June.
- His victory on the Euro Tour was pivotal in earning him a place in the big TV tournaments that have followed, though he has yet to have a significant run in a PDC major TV tournament.
ZORAN LERCHBACHER
- Zoran Lerchbacher has qualified for the PDC World Championship for the fourth time, earning his spot on this occasion through the South-East Europe Qualifier where he defeated Rusty-Jake Rodriguez in a last-leg decider.
- His best performance at a World Championship was in 2017-18 when he defeated multiple major-finalist Mervyn King 3-2 before losing to Keegan Brown in the last 32.
- Lerchbacher is a regular competitor in PDC tour events and reached a ranking tournament final in both 2017 and 2018, but besides a run to the quarter-finals at the World Cup of Darts whilst partnering Mensur Suljovic, he hasn’t had an impressive 2019 on the ranking circuit with only one last 16 appearance and that was back in February.
THE PREDICTION
Jamie Hughes has put together some impressive performances on the tour this season, most notably his win on the Euro Tour which was a massive boost to his ranking and he will be looking to make further strides with a good run here on his debut at the PDC World Championship. Zoran Lerchbacher is not likely to be a pushover but if Hughes turns up and plays to the level that he has for much of the year, he should be able to overcome the Austrian and take his place in round two.
