After a jam-packed first day of darting action in Minehead, the second and third rounds take place on Saturday and it will be a tough act to follow after an opening two sessions filled with courageous comebacks and even a nine-darter courtesy of Alan Norris, which you can view below.
There was also a sense of Dutch dominance about Friday as 11 of 12 Netherlands stars won their fixtures to progress, with only Benito van de Pas falling at the first hurdle to a resurgent Brendan Dolan.
On to Saturday and the Clockwork Orange theme continues, with all-Dutch duels between Michael van Gerwen v Vincent van der Voort and Vincent Kamphuis v Jelle Klaasen.
While in other big wrangles, Raymond van Barneveld battles fellow PDC superstar Adrian Lewis and Peter Wright takes on James Wade.
Here, Coral darts writers provide their top 2016 Players Championship Finals second round tips for selected star-studded showdowns…
Dave Chisnall v Jamie Lewis
There’s little doubt that Welsh young-gun Lewis (an intriguing 3/1 to win) possesses the talent to take on Chizzy, who has been out of form lately.
Chisnall crashed out out the Grand Slam of Darts group stages but, as with most top players, will now be even more dangerous with a point to prove. The Englishman has edged his Welsh peer in all of their previous three meetings, including in last year’s Players Championship finals.
Rasta gave as good as he got then, losing just 10-8, meaning Chizzy (1/4) will need to bring his ‘A’ game, so why not back the famed maximums man at 11/10 to notch over 3.5 180s for better value?
Vincent Kamphuis v Jelle Klaasen
In this first of two all-Dutch duels on Saturday, odds
The Cobra struck against Simon Stevenson in his opener and routinely clocks up ruthless results in the opening rounds of big tournaments. So, despite Kamphuis’ own first fixture success, he looks unlikely to claw his way into the third round. This clash, then, could be settled in a rather lopsided manner with one player failing to get three legs on the board and one Dutchman to dominate the other.
Simon Whitlock v Darren Webster
Neither of these arrowsmiths made it out of their respective recent Grand Slam of Darts groups, but experienced Whitlock has a clear advantage here against part-time dartsman Webster.
The Wizard has been on an encouraging upward curve, however, recently reaching the World Series of Darts quarter-finals, so should not be troubled here.
One of the first round’s finest main stage rumbles came as youngster Van den Bergh saw off older Gerwyn Price in sensational fashion, following a comeback that was as cool as they come.
Kist was similarly on-point against Ricky Evans but, with the confidence of having overcome the Iceman to avenge his going out of the Grand Slam of Darts group stage due to the Welshman, backing the 22-year-old Belgian with a taste for rousing the crowd to overcome The Lipstick could prove profitable.
Both Huybrechts and Gurney emerged from their openers with 6-3 victories, but it was The Hurricane whose 91.27 average blew away his opponent.
Huybrechts holds head-to-head history over his Northern Irish rival with four triumphs to two and may have oche vengeance in mind after Gurney ousted him from this tournament last year.
Mighty Mike meets best pal and best man Van der Voort in the second all-Dutch encounter of the second round.
The Dutch Destroyer did manage to defeat MvG three times previously, and that’s three occasions more than many, but his last success against darting juggernaut Van Gerwen was way back in 2012 and Van der Voort has since lost eight on the spin to his compatriot.
Last time they duelled in this very competition on 2015, the green machine came through their fray 6-4, and is an enticing price of 13/10 in 180 handicap betting (-1.5) to notch 1.5 more maximums than VdV.
Peter Wright v James Wade
In what promises to be a top class clash, Snakebite is our tip to overcome long-standing rival Wade.
The Machine has the better record in this fixture with 14 successes against Wright. But the Scot, despite not being at his best when pushing past Jason Wilson on Friday night, has been making the business end of competitions frequently of late.
Entertainer Snakebite has the chops to overcome consistent if unspectacular Wade and has done so in their last two tungsten tussles, which makes him look great value at 11/2 to win a close contest 6-5.
Gary Anderson v Ron Meulenkamp
In another case of Dutch talent rising, The Bomb booked his second round Somerset scuffle against Anderson by surprisingly beating Stephen Bunting.
Meulenkamp, just 28, will have a much tougher time of it against The Flying Scotsman, though the world champ almost stuttered last against John Henderson, eventually going on to sink his countryman 6-3.
It’s all even on eight apiece in past head-to-heads between this pair of old arrow foes, who have faced one another four times in 2016 and so far taken the spoils twice each.
It was Jenkins who impressed most in Maidenhead in his first outing, however, pummeling Mark Webster 6-3 with an average of 92.33, while Diamond White failed to shine when squeezing past much younger Keegan Brown 6-5 whilst clocking up an average of only 82.93.
Crowd favourite Barney put in the standout performance of round one, with an impressive 107.40 average and some fine finishing to see off Mensur Suljovic.
Van Barneveld’s next task is not easy, as he must defeat Adrian Lewis, who was dominant in his own first foray against Robert Thornton.
Jackpot has a 21-31 losing record to his Dutch peer but has tended to recently better Barney when it counts. But, with the master in such flying form and having won four of his last five darting dust-up with Adrian Lewis, he’s a mighty fine price at 5/4 in handicap betting (1.5) to see off the English oche star, who has had his fair share of wobbles lately, by over 1.5 legs.
Saturday 2nd round fixtures
Here is Saturday’s roster of second round fixtures…
Dimitri van den Bergh v Christian Kist Dave Chisnall v Jamie Lewis Vincent Kamphuis v Jelle Klaasen Mick McGowan v Alan Norris Simon Whitlock v Darren Webster Brendan Dolan v Jermaine Wattimena Jan Dekker v Justin Pipe Kim Huybrechts v Daryl Gurney Josh Payne v Berry van Peer Joe Cullen v Rowby John Rodriguez Michael van Gerwen v Vincent van der Voort Raymond van Barneveld v Adrian Lewis. Ian White v Terry Jenkins Peter Wright v James Wade Jeffrey de Graaf v Robbie Green Gary Anderson v Ron Meulenkamp
