Tuesday saw the conclusion of the opening round of the 2010 Stanjames.com World Matchplay with sixteen players left fighting it out for the £100,000 first prize on Sunday evening.
Three of the world’s top six were amongst the early casualties as Mervyn King, Terry Jenkins & Adrian Lewis prepare to watch the remainder of the tournament on the box. Three of the four debutants on display made a winning start at the Winter Gardens; Mark Webster, Gary Anderson & Steve Brown will be looking to secure places in Friday’s Quarter Finals as they face off against Co Stompe, Jelle Klaasen & Simon Whitlock respectively.
Few had predicted the fight that Welshman Barrie Bates would put up against ten-times Champion Phil Taylor. The world number one required a World Matchplay record average of 114.99 to justify pre-match odds of 1/100 and recover from 5-4 down to take the 10-6 victory. Next in the averages (almost 17 points behind Taylor) was Gary Anderson, who provided the tournament’s first whitewash for six years in disposing of fellow Scot Robert Thornton. Nine-dart sensation Raymond van Barneveld was the only other man to go over the 95 mark, doing so in a 10-1 demolition of Denis Ovens – a scoreline mirrored by Simon Whitlock’s win over Tony Eccles.
The world’s top three managed 6 180s apiece but it’s Dutchman Stompe who heads Taylor, van Barneveld & James Wade in that particular market as ‘The Matchstick’ registered 8 of the 92 maximums in round one in taking out Andy Hamilton. Stompe’s opponent in round two, Mark Webster, was one of two winners who failed to trigger the famous ‘180’ call, with Ronnie Baxter’s second round opponent Wayne Jones being the other. Mark Walsh holds the highest checkout so far in taking out 160 in a 12-10 win over Mark Dudbridge.
As for the outright, Coral are standing firm with their 2/5 offering about Taylor. Van Barneveld is in to 12/1 from 18/1 at the outset on the back of his second televised nine darter in 2010, with the majority of the challengers remaining unchanged.
Wednesday sees the first four round two games being played out over the best of 25 legs with the final four quarter finalists becoming known at the culmination of Thursday’s play.
|
R1 Ave |
R1 180s |
|
|
|
|
Phil Taylor |
114.99 |
6 |
|
Gary Anderson |
98.24 |
2 |
|
Raymond v Barneveld |
97.62 |
6 |
|
Simon Whitlock |
94.86 |
2 |
|
Jelle Klaasen |
94.15 |
3 |
|
Ronnie Baxter |
93.02 |
3 |
|
Vincent vd Voort |
92.21 |
3 |
|
Mark Webster |
90.86 |
0 |
|
Mark Walsh |
90.46 |
5 |
|
Co Stompe |
90.17 |
8 |
|
Alan Tabern |
90.01 |
5 |
|
Steve Beaton |
89.75 |
3 |
|
James Wade |
89.14 |
6 |
|
Kevin Painter |
88.89 |
1 |
|
Wayne Jones |
87.98 |
0 |
|
Steve Brown |
87.45 |
2 |
Wednesday’s 2nd Round Matches (Best of 25 legs – must win by 2 clear legs)
Ronnie Baxter (4/11) v Wayne Jones (2/5)
Mark Webster (5/6) v Co Stompe (11/10)
James Wade (2/7) v Vincent van der Voort (3/1)
Raymond van Barneveld (2/9) v Alan Tabern (7/2)
Thursday’s 2nd Round Matches (Best of 25 legs – must win by 2 clear legs)
Gary Anderson (2/5) v Jelle Klaasen (9/4)
Mark Walsh (5/6) v Kevin Painter (21/20)
Phil Taylor (1/33) v Steve Beaton (20/1)
Simon Whitlock (1/12) v Steve Brown (8/1)
