Ricardo Pietreczko vs Xiaochen Zong Preview & Prediction | 2024-25 PDC World Darts Championship | First Round

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Emerging talent Ricardo Pietreczko came extremely close to eliminating eventual world champion Luke Humphries last year, and he begins his Ally Pally campaign against Chinese hopeful Xiaochen Zong.

Start date/time: Tuesday 17th December, 2024, UK – not before 9:15pm / US ET – not before 4:15pm / US PT – not before 1:15pm

How to watch on TV: UK – Sky Sports / US – DAZN

How to watch online: UK – Sky Go / US – DAZN

Ricardo Pietreczko vs Xiaochen Zong Prediction

Ricardo Pietreczko has become a regular competitor in televised tournaments over the last couple of years and will be featuring in his second World Championship after reaching the third round on his Alexandra Palace debut last year. ‘Pikachu’ was 3-1 up against Luke Humphries on that occasion, only to see the eventual champion rally to win 4-3.

The German, not exactly a crowd favourite due to a number of on-stage incidents, notably reached the quarter-finals of the European Championship in October where he lost narrowly to Danny Noppert, while a run to the final of the inaugural Flanders Darts Trophy was his best showing on the PDC European Tour during which he featured in every single event.

This will be a fourth appearance at the PDC World Darts Championship for Xiaochen Zong, who has fallen at the first hurdle on his three previous attempts.

Zong has largely dominated the Chinese darts scene in recent years and stormed to the inaugural PDC Darts China Championship title in August to book his spot at Ally Pally.

Although Zong has averaged over 100 in the past, Pietreczko has done so on multiple occasions on TV and is clearly very comfortable on the big stage. It surely won’t be a routine victory for Pikachu, but his class should ultimately tell.

Ricardo Pietreczko vs Xiaochen Zong Tip: Ricardo Pietreczko to win 3-1