Wednesday, July 24, 2024
Column CM133
World Matchplay 2024 – The Quarterfinals
The quarterfinals took place over two days as well. On the first day, the players from the upper half played again and on the second day the players from the lower half stood on stage – and on both days just one non-seeded player was involved (who had just so qualified for the event by the Pro Tour Order of Merit).
On the first quarterfinal day it was James Wade who played against number 13 on the Order of Merit, Ross Smith. Statistically Smith entered the match with some advantage – he had, so far, played the higher averages, had thrown far more 180s (27 to Wades 3) and had a quite similar hitting rate on the doubles. But Wade had already shown his typically good checkout timing which had played a big part at least in his win over reigning champion Nathan Aspinall.
Nevertheless, it was no surprise that Ross Smith was in the lead before the first break. On the other side of the break Wade surprised from the start with strong scoring and by hitting a lot of 180s. Before the second break Wade was up 6-4 and two breaks ahead and he never looked back – he extended his lead to a 16-10 win. One could see Smith get more and more exasperated with this tenacious and completely unimpressed opponent who prevented all attempts to get closer and always found an answer.
In the second quarterfinal of the night, Luke Humphries and Dimitri van den Bergh stood on stage. Due to his previous performances in the tournament, Humphries was the favourite to win the match – though the Belgian won the bull.
Humphries stormed to a 3-0 lead, but van den Bergh settled into the match too and it was 3-2 Humphries before the first break.
After the break, Humphries struggled again, and he had to work hard – nothing was easy. But of course, it was also van den Bergh’s playing style, with his slow throwing rhythm, which hindered the flow of the match. Before the second break Humphries was 6-5 in the lead.
van den Bergh managed to draw to 7-7 but after that Humphries got more consistent and stable, was less hindered by van den Bergh’s playing style and finally moved away. Humphries also won 16-10 but it was a hard worked for win. Once again one got the impression he had more to fight against himself then against his opponent – somehow it didn’t appear that he was 100% confident in his skills.
On the second quarterfinals day, Andrew Gilding was the unseeded player and he played in the first match of the night against Michael van Gerwen (whom he had defeated last year in the final of the UK Open). Gilding hadn’t performed great recently, but he had improved a lot in his second round match in the World Matchplay against Krzysztof Ratajski. Michael van Gerwen played a great match against Luke Littler and won over Joe Cullen but that second match had been far from outstanding. One couldn’t really predict how the van Gerwen vs. Gilding match would develop…
It was an interesting match but a match of two halves as well. The first half was really close, a head-to-head race and Gilding even had a slight advantage. But after the Dutchman had drawn to 8-8, Gilding was not in the contest anymore. He only managed to win two more legs and van Gerwen coasted to an easy win. So, again we had a 16-10 winner – this time in van Gerwen though the Dutchman was far from convincing on his doubles. It might be Gilding failed because of the longer and for him unfamiliar format.
The fourth and last quarterfinal was highly anticipated. Michael Smith had been under the radar so far – well, he had defeated Gary Anderson, but that had not really been an upset. And his match against Chris Dobey had been quite average…
Smith now faced in the last quarterfinal Rob Cross who had been outstanding – first in his match against Gian van Veen which he only just won and then in the second round against Ryan Searle whom he steamrolled.
But it turned out to be the weakest and most one-sided of the quarterfinal matches and was dominated by double-trouble. Cross couldn’t find a double from the start – none. When Smith was ahead 5-1 Cross’ hitting rate on the doubles was just seven per cent. Cross’ only highlight of the match was his 144-finish to get the match to 7-14 but that was much too late to stop Michael Smith. Cross couldn’t even get close as Smith got the following two legs and won 16-7. It was a really strange quarterfinal in which Smith was the clear winner but nevertheless far from his best.
