Thursday, July 19, 2023
Column CM132
World Matchplay 2024 – The First Round
In just a few days the first round of World Matchplay was already over – just a short while after all had started.
It was an interesting first round with good and often thrilling matches – although all debutants were knocked out of the event and only four of the non-seeded players managed to progress. I hadn’t expected that. Often the Pro Tour Order of Merit (by which the non-seeded players qualified) as a one-year ranking shows more of the current form of the players than the Order of Merit which is a two-years ranking.
When you take that in account it was no upset that Peter Wright didn’t survive his first match, although he didn’t lose because he played bad but rather because he just couldn’t hit his doubles.
Which problems were the reason for Danny Noppert and Dave Chisnall to fare as they did, I have no idea. I got the feeling that Dave Chisnall felt a little bit harassed as he had to finish his match before the final of the European Championship (in which England was involved) started. He looked nervous from the start and was just not himself. Damon Heta was the fourth seed to go out – he was almost steamrolled by the strong playing Ryan Searle (though when one considers the statistics the match was far less one-sided then it felt). Heta’s form recently has been somewhat staggering – so this was not a real upset.
More surprising was Joe Cullen’s strong first round performance – he had often been disappointing recently. Jonny Clayton played much better against Raymond van Barneveld as was expected. Nathan Aspinall had a really hard time due to his arm injury and only got through thanks to his fighting spirit (and the support of the crowd, as he stated himself). Hopefully, surgery will be a success!
Some of the non-seeded players didn’t turn up as one had expected either. No idea why. Martin Schindler, who had really looked in great form before the tournament, had no chance against Dimitri van den Bergh. Was it van den Bergh’s nine-darter which caught him on the wrong foot? Josh Rock scored quite well but couldn’t hit his doubles while Ross Smith was absolutely clinical. Brendan Dolan never really got going and was never in the match. Gary Anderson, once again, was haunted by his doubles – I am sure Michael Smith it not his favourite opponent. I don’t know why but when those two meet, almost every time Anderson is at the losing end. It always feels as if he himself doesn’t believe he has a chance to win the match before it even starts. Michael van Gerwen showed Luke Littler there is still a lot he has to learn. Although the sensational teenager showed a high-class performance he couldn’t convince, and the match was not the highlight everybody had expected – and the second favourite of the title sponsor was out after the first hurdle.
The most impressive match of the first round was without a doubt the match between Rob Cross and Gian van Veen. Cross won it in the end – probably debutant van Veen still lacks the experience or the sangfroid to get the match darts into the intended target. But it was an outstanding performance from both players – only Luke Humphries came close in this first round.
