The third round has started well. Today, six more matches will be played before a little christmas-break.

Another favorite had to leave the tournament yesterday when Daryl Gurney, the fifth of the world’s top ten, had to leave the tournament. Thus, Jamie Lewis still lives in the tournament, where he also impressed last year.

Today two more from the world’s top ten will be on stage in the form of James Wade and world champion Rob Cross. After the matches of today, there will be a little christmas-break from the darts. Thus the darts will be back again at the 27th of December.

Afternoonsession

Vincent van der Voort v Chris Dobey
Both players entered the first round of the tournament and have therefore both played two matches so far. So, it is two players who bring on momentum to this match. Chris Dobey has in both of his games played with a average above 92, where the Dutchman “only” averaged 87.81 against Darren Webster when, after all, he won 3-0. The two have only met once before, they did back in May at Players Championship 11, where Vincent van der Voort won by 6-4.

Brendan Dolan v Mervyn King
Brendan Dolan comes with a massive victory in his back, because he won against Joe Cullen by 3-0 in the second round. Not only did Cullen not get a single set, he only got one single leg throughout the match. Joe Cullen’s level, however, was not flashy, but a brilliant performance by Brendal Dolan who averaged just above 92 in the match. Mervyn King, on the other hand, played a really nice match against Jan Dekker. Even thoguh he only won by 3-2, where he even had been ahead by 2-0, the Englishman did nothing less than nine 180’s and played at the same time with an average of 97,76.

James Wade v Keegan Brown
James Wade’s match against Seigo Asada has had a completely different focus afterwards, than the match itself. It may have disturbed James Wade a bit in his prelude, but he’s probably professional enough to shut it out. He’s up against Keegan Brown, who easily got through to the the third round without impressing. He thus beat Jelle Klaasen 3-1, but this must be seen most in the light of the fact that Jelle Klaasen only averaged ​79.24 in a really bad game from his side.

Eveningsession

Adrian Lewis v Darius Labanauskas
Adrian Lewis looked pretty sharp in his first game against Ted Evetts. He averaged a little over 97 in the match, which he won by 3-0. He will face one of the tournament’s great surprises, Darius Labanauskas, who beat Raymond van Barneveld in a very close match. The Dutchman did not hit the level that he had previously been able to, so Darius Labanauskas can easily have a tough time today. He has to average something higher against Lewis than he did against Raymond van Barneveld.

Nathan Aspinall v Kyle Anderson
Nathan Aspinall was probably not the opponent Kyle Anderson had expected to meet in this third round. Nathan Aspinall thus beat Gerwyn Price 3-2 two days ago, where the Welshman was up by 2-0. Kyle Anderson had it something easier securing his seat in the third round when he beat Noel Malicdem by 3-1, in a game where he averaged 96,41. Nathan Aspinall on the paper is a worse player than Kyle Anderson, but with the victory against Gerwyn Price, it must be a very confident Englishman who will be on stage for the third time in this tournament.

Rob Cross v Cristo Reyes
Rob Cross has not played since December 13, when he beat Jeffrey de Zwaan after a nice match. On the other hand, Cristo Reyes played as late as Friday, so it might give him a little advantage when it comes to keeping momentum. The Spaniard beat Rowby-John Rodriguez by 3-2, even though he was down by 0-2. The Spaniard, however, showed  routine, and turned the fight completely upside down. However, his average must be a higher than 88.76 if he wants to challenge Rob Cross tonight.