The last eight matches of the second round will be played today.

Another favorite got knocked out yesterday, as Mensur Suljovic lost to Ryan Searle. Today, the last eight matches of the second round must be decided and no one can feel safe at all.

Afternoonsession

Benito de Pas de Jim Long
Benito van de Pas is seeded as number 30, and is therefore only just ending among the seeded. It’s been a long time since the Dutchman managed to make very big achievements. Benito van de Pas has not done anything big this season either. Not a single quarter-final for the Dutchman. He will meet Jim Long, who progressed with a 3-1 win from the first round against Mickey Mansell. However, it was not because he played very well, it was more about Mansell being extremely poor. Jim Long managed to win by a average of 75.33.

John Henderson v Gabriel Clemens
John Henderson is a man who at times shows a really nice level, and sometimes he completely falls through. It’s not always  easy to know what to expect from him. However, he has improved somewhat lately, and in this season he has achieved three quarter-finals on the Players Championship Tour. He meets Gabriel Clemens, who got through from the first round without impressing. Despite a victory of 3-0, the average was not much higher than 83.

Steve West v Richard North
Richard North delivered one of the better comebacks in the first round, in which he won 3-2 against Robert Marijanovic, despite being down by 2-0. He has to face Steve West, who has played a really good season. West, who has previously looked like a kind of “fill” on the Pro Tour, has begun to mingle more in the top than before. Thus he reached the quarter-finals at both the UK Open and the European Championship.

Kyle Anderson v Noel Malicdem
Noel Malicdem surprised most when he won his first round match against Jeffrey de Graaf. However, Jeffrey de Graaf did not perform on the day, but nevertheless, it is still a great achievement for the Filipino. However, it will be a lot more difficult today when he meets Kyle Anderson. Unlike 2017, where Kyle Anderson performed quite well, 2018 has not been the year the Australian. His best result is thus a semi-final at Players Championship 22. However, there is no doubt who is favorite in this showdown.

Eveningsession

Ian White v Devon Petersen
Ian White has had a pretty good season. The Englishman thus started the season by reaching a quarter-final and a semi-final at the first two Players Championship-events. Later in the season there were also three distinguished victories at Players Championship 6 and 16, and at the Dutch Darts Championship. In the evening he is up against Devon Petersen, who won his first match by 3-2. It seemed that the South African threw it all away when Wayne Jones got up at 2-2 after he was down by 0-2. Devon Peterson pulled the longest straw, but it will be difficult for him tonight.

Jelle Klaasen v Keegan Brown
Jelle Klaasen is no longer one of the world’s top players, although several had predicted differently. The Dutchman has also not shown anything exceptional this season, where it has only been one quarter-final, which was at the European Darts Trophy. He has to face Keegan Brown, who played quite well in the first round. He thus averraged 95.78 when he beat Karel Sedlacek by 3-0.

Gerwyn Price v Nathan Aspinall
Gerwyn Price has had his best season this year, despite a terrible course during this year’s Premier League. Not only did he reach the quarter-finals at  the World Matchplay and the European Championship, he also won the Grand Slam of Darts after a good final against Gary Anderson. He will play against Nathan Aspinall this evening, which averaged 88.42 against Geert Nentjes in the first round, in which he won 3-0. 88.42 is still too low, if he is to beat the Welsh player this evening.

Jonny Clayton v Dimitri van den Bergh
Jonny Clayton has had a pretty good season, where he won the Austrian Darts Open. In addition, he reached the quarter-final at Grand Slam of Darts, where he lost against Michael van Gerwen, which he had otherwise beaten by 5-4 in the group stage after a nice average of 103.60. Today he is meeting Dimitri van den Bergh, who won the first round by 3-0 against Chuck Puleo. However, it was not due to high grade games, but a first round match can often be characterized by nerves. Therefore, one might expect a better level from the Belgian this evening.