DARTS statistician 3 Dart Analyst looks ahead to Wednesday's second and third round matches at the William Hill World Darts Championship as the tournament continues in London.
Four second round games will be played on Wednesday, with two third round matches being played in the evening session.
Kim Huybrechts (13) vs Max Hopp
Huybrechts
- Kim Huybrechts was an impressive 3-0 winner over James Wilson in the first round; he rounded off his performance with a 138 finish in the last leg of the match.
- In his win against Wilson, Huybrechts averaged 98.66 and had a double success percentage of 64.29% (the second highest percentage of any player who made it through to round two).
- This is the fourth time he has featured in the second round at the World Championship, on each of the last two occasions his second round tie has gone all the way into a last set decider.
Hopp
- Max Hopp progressed to round two with a 3-1 win over Vincent van der Voort, after losing the opening set Hopp won nine of the next eleven legs. During the match he had a spell where he scored a 180 in four consecutive legs.
- His doubling against van der Voort was very efficient; overall he hit 58.8% of his double attempts.
- This is his second time in the second round at the PDC World Championship; two years ago he was well beaten by van der Voort at this stage of the tournament having failed to win a set.
Head to Head (Huybrechts leads 2-1)
Kim Huybrechts has won two of their previous three matches, including their only meeting in a major ranking tournament when he defeated Hopp 9-7 at the UK Open in 2015. This is the first time they have faced each other since Huybrechts won 6-0 in their last 32 encounter at the European Darts Trophy in September 2015.
James Wade (6) v Steve Beaton (27)
Wade
- James Wade progressed to round two courtesy of a 3-0 win over Ronny Huybrechts. Wade had trailed 1-0 in each of the three sets.
- The highlight of Wade’s performance was a 141 finish in the final leg of the match; overall his double success percentage was a very respectable 56.25%.
- Wade has made it through to the second round at the World Championship for the eleventh consecutive time, he has only suffered defeat in two of his previous ten matches at this stage of the tournament, the most recent defeat was two years ago when he lost 4-1 to Stephen Bunting.
Beaton
- Steve Beaton had a 3-1 win against Devon Petersen to reach round two, with the score at one set all and 1-0 to Petersen he won six out of the next seven legs to secure the win.
- Beaton was one of eight players who progressed to round two having averaged below 90.
- His double success percentage was 39% against Petersen but many of the missed doubles were early in the match, he impressively needed only seven double attempts to win his last six legs of the match.
- Beaton is aiming to reach the last 16 at the PDC World Championship for the first time since the 2004 tournament and surprisingly he has never won back to back matches at the PDC World Championship in all his 15 previous appearances at the tournament. Going back to his time in the BDO the last time Beaton won back to back matches at a World Championship tournament was 1998.
Head to Head (Wade leads 17-3)
James Wade has an excellent winning record over Steve Beaton in their previous head to head matches having won seventeen of their twenty meetings. They have played twice previously at the World Championship, both matches were in the second round with Wade winning 4-3 and 4-2.
Jelle Klaasen (10) v Brendan Dolan (23)
Klaasen
- Jelle Klaasen won 3-1 against Jeffrey de Graaf in the first round, in what was a good competitive match; in terms of overall legs won it was 9-8 to Klaasen.
- The match stats of Klaasen in the first round were very respectable, he averaged 96, hit over 52% of his double attempts, had three ton plus checkouts and scored a total of six 180s.
- He has made it through to the second round at the PDC World Championship on four previous occasions (winning twice and losing twice). Last year at this stage of the tournament he defeated Mervyn King 4-2.
Dolan
- Brendan Dolan produced a good performance in the opening round to defeat Christian Kist 3-1.
- Dolan’s average against Kist was 95.12 and his double success percentage was over 56%.
- This is his sixth appearance in the second round at the PDC World Championship and he has yet to progress past this stage of the tournament. Overall in his five second round defeats combined he has only won a total of four sets.
Head to Head (Dolan leads 5-3)
Brendan Dolan has the overall lead in their head to head record but it is worth noting that Jelle Klaasen has won each of their last three meetings. This is the first time they have played since the first round of the 2015 World Grand Prix when Klaasen won 2-1. Their only other previous encounter in a major ranking tournament came at the 2015 UK Open with Klaasen winning 9-4 in the last 64.
Peter Wright (3) v Jamie Lewis (30)
Wright
- Peter Wright dropped just two legs in his 3-0 opening round win over preliminary round winner Jerry Hendriks.
- It was very good all round performance from Wright; he averaged 101, hit 45% of his double attempts and had high finishes of 141 and 131.
- Wright hasn’t failed to get past round two since losing to Michael van Gerwen at the 2013 World Championship. In each of the last three years he has beaten an unseeded player at this stage of the tournament.
Lewis
- Jamie Lewis won through to the second round at the World Championship for the first time courtesy of a hard fought 3-2 win over Mick McGowan.
- A highlight of his performance in the opening round was his doubling; he finished the match with a double success percentage of 50% and impressively checked out 108 against the throw to win the match.
- Lewis is aiming to reach the last 16 at a major ranking tournament for the first time since 2015 when he did so at the World Matchplay, World Grand Prix and Players Championship Finals.
Head to Head (Wright leads 4-1)
Peter Wright has won four of their five previous meetings, though three of their last four encounters have gone to a last leg decider. This will be the first time they have met in a major ranking tournament and the first time they have met since 2015.
Third Round
Gary Anderson (2) v Benito van de Pas (15)
Anderson
- Gary Anderson hasn’t dropped a set in this year’s tournament and overall he has dropped only six legs. It’s the first time he has gone through the first two rounds at a World Championship without conceding a set.
- Anderson has played a total of 27 legs to reach this round of the tournament; van de Pas played 31 legs during his second round matches alone.
- Anderson has now won 14 consecutive matches at the PDC World Championship.
- This is the seventh time in a row that he has made it through to the last 16 at the PDC World Championship, of the previous six appearances he has lost just two (against van Gerwen and van Barneveld).
Van de Pas
- In round two Benito van de Pas won 4-3 against Terry Jenkins, with Jenkins having missed a dart at double to win the match in the seventh set.
- His average of 95.79 in his second round win over Terry Jenkins was his highest ever average in a World Championship match. Anderson has averaged more than that in each of his last 13 World Championship matches.
- This is the third time in a row that van de Pas has made it through to the last 16 at the PDC World Championship, in each of the last two years he has lost at this stage of the tournament without winning a set (the 4-0 defeat came against Michael Smith and Robert Thornton).
Head to Head (Anderson leads 1-0)
Gary Anderson and Benito van de Pas have met just once previously, with Anderson winning 6-4 in the semi-final of a UK Open qualifier back in February.
Adrian Lewis (5) v Raymond van Barneveld (12)
Lewis
- Adrian Lewis produced a strong performance and dropped just four legs in beating Joe Cullen 4-0 in their round two clash; overall Lewis has lost only eight legs across his two matches so far.
- Lewis averaged over 100 throughout his win over Cullen, finishing with a match average of 102.65; another highlight of his performance was a 161 checkout in the second set.
- This is the 11th time that Lewis has made it through to the last 16 at the PDC World Championship which is an impressive total given that this is his 12th World Championship appearance.
- Of his ten previous matches at this stage of the tournament he has only lost twice, both defeats were in last set deciders (against Andy Jenkins and Raymond van Barneveld).
- Overall in best of seven set World Championship matches he has won 19 and lost only 3 times (all of those defeats were in last set deciders).
- This is a landmark match for Adrian Lewis, as it will be his 50th PDC World Championship match since he made his debut at the 2006 World Championship tournament. The total brings him level with Dennis Priestley in second place on the list of most matches played at the PDC World Championship (it’s no surprise that Phil Taylor tops the list).
Van Barneveld
- Raymond van Barneveld won comprehensively against Alan Norris in round two, dropping only two legs in his 4-0 win. Overall van Barneveld has lost just four legs in reaching this stage of the tournament.
- He averaged 103.59 against Norris which was his highest average at the World Championship for four years (since he averaged over 108 in the opening round against Michael Smith at the 2013 World Championship). His tournament average so far is 101.27
- Van Barneveld is through to the last 16 at the PDC World Championship for the 10th time and overall including his time in the BDO it will be his 22nd appearance in the last 16 at a World Championship.
- Of his nine previous appearances in the last 16 the PDC World Championship he has lost twice (to Kevin Painter and Mark Webster).
- Overall in his 19 best of seven set matches played at the PDC World Championship he has won 17 and lost only 2 of those matches.
Head to Head (van Barneveld leads 32-21, they have also drawn twice in Premier League matches)
It is no surprise that Raymond van Barneveld and Adrian Lewis have met plenty of times over the years and this is their 56th encounter. Barney has won five of the last six times they have met (their most recent match was won 6-4 by van Barneveld at the Players Championship Finals last month). They have faced each other twice previously at the PDC World Championship and they both have a win to their name; Lewis won 6-3 in the 2016 World Championship semi-final whilst van Barneveld won 4-3 in the last 16 at the 2015 World Championship.