Thursday, July 24, 2025
Column CM146
World Matchplay 2025 – First Round
The first round of a major tournament often brings some upsets and surprise wins and it was no different in this year’s World Matchplay.
It started on the first night when not only reigning champion Luke Humphries but the 2023 champion, Nathan Apspinall, both were eliminated by strong playing Dutch players (though I must confess that I had not been really sure whether Humphries would survive the first round when the draw was published).
Humphries is not in his best form at the moment and he’s a player who often doesn’t start in a tournament with his A-Game. Currently, Gian van Veen shows strong performances and – when he finds his game – can be a challenge for every player. So, he was not an ideal first round opponent for a struggling Humphries.
Humphries is not the first reigning World Matchplay champion who was eliminated first round when he tried to defend his title. It happened as well to Colin Lloyd (against Chris Mason), Rob Cross (against Gabriel Clemens) and even Michael van Gerwen, who lost first round in 2023 to Brendan Dolan.
One will see how this will affect Humphries as it was the second hard blow he’s suffered since his exit from the PDC World Cup. It may be the little break will have a positive effect before he has to travel Down Under for the World Series events in New Zealand and Australia.
Nathan Aspinall had the same foreseeable problem with his first round opponent, Wessel Nijman. Nijman often comes out strong in his first matches on the European Tour – but so far has not been really consistent.
What surprised me more was the lack of nerves Nijman displayed at his debut in a Major – especially when you compare him to the second debutant of the tournament Cameron Menzies who only overcame his nerves near the end of his match. Should Nijman be able to find his consistency he might well be a player with a big future.
The other two seeded players on the first night – James Wade and Danny Noppert – won their matches. Wade turned up surprisingly strong against Joe Cullen, who had no chance at all, while Danny Noppert had no problems against an overwhelmed Cameron Menzies.
The second day of the tournament had an afternoon and evening session which went off completely different…
None of the four seeds survived the afternoon session. Damon Heta lost in overtime to a strong playing Andrew Gilding. Rob Cross and Peter Wright lost to the Dutch duo Dirk van Duijvenbode and Jermaine Wattimena – Cross had been far ahead in the match but ran out of steam while Wright battled until the end and lost a little bit unlucky. Dave Chisnall played exactly as he has been playing recently, which was not enough against Mike de Decker. Overall, apart from the first match it was not an outstanding session.
The evening was much more a success for the seeds – all four progressed…
Gary Anderson was too masterful for Luke Woodhouse who could only keep up until the 5-5. Jonny Clayton didn’t have an easy match against strong playing German Martin Schindler, but his timing was much better – which made the difference. Luke Littler was just not to be stopped by a good playing Ryan Searle – what a performance by the young player who confirmed his part as favourite for the title. The last match of the night started lame but Stephen Bunting picked up pace and in the end won 10-8 over Ryan Joyce.
On the third day of the tournament, the first round was played to the end in an evening session – with the last four matches all very different (the playing level differed a lot as well)…
The night started with the match between Chris Dobey and the second German in the tournament, Ricardo Pietreczko. All in all, it was a weak match. Dobey managed to settle down halfway through it. Pietreczko started okay but then lost his way completely and averaged just 83.22 – the lowest the average of the event so far. His double trouble in the middle of the match got him out of step and he never recovered.
The following match between Gerwyn Price and Daryl Gurney was the polar opposite. Both players were in battle mode, even aggressive, and each showed a strong performance on stage. The slightly better Price won with 10-7.
After this good match we did see the clash of two Dutch legends in Michael van Gerwen and Raymond van Barneveld – A contest which some years ago would have brought a glint in the eyes of the crowd…
But this night it was only a very distant echo of former performances and a little bit sad. van Gerwen, the better player, had an average shy of 92 while van Barneveld ended with 87.10. van Gerwen won 10-6 and one shouldn’t overrate it – even though he’s shown a lot of similar performances recently. The Dutchman is – or at least was – always capable of stepping up his game (a lot) throughout a tournament.
The last match of the night and of the first round brought a conciliating highlight – Josh Rock. Seemingly invigorated by his win in the PDC World Cup, he rattled off a fresh, energized and outstanding appearance which sometime in the match even carried over to Ross Smith – who had been at sea at the beginning of the match. It developed into an entertaining contest, ending with a convincing 10-5 win for Rock.
Bottom line of the first round – it was not a really good start for the seeded players. Seven of them were eliminated – among them reigning champion Luke Humphries. Dobey and van Gerwen somehow advanced into the next round, mainly due to their weak opponents. The other seeds showed solid to great performances. And some of the non-seeded players played outstanding – headed by Rock and Nijman. Time will tell whether they will be able to keep up the level. The two German players showed completely different performances – Schindler played great, Pietreczko weak – but both lost, nevertheless.
I myself feel it more probable that one of the remaining seeds will be the new World Matchplay Champion.
From the quarterfinals onwards, I’ll be in Blackpool, and I really wonder who I will see playing live on stage…
