Betfred World Matchplay 2023 | Day One Preview and Order of Play
The curtain is raised on the 2023 World Matchplay with two former champions among those in action on opening night at the Winter Gardens on Saturday.
The 30th staging of the prestigious major gets off to a blockbuster start in Blackpool with a host of star names on show.
The evening’s line-up includes one of the stand-out ties of the First Round as 2018 champion Gary Anderson faces 12th seed Dave Chisnall.
The power-scoring pair face off in a televised ranking tournament for the first time since Anderson overcame Chisnall 6-3 in sets to reach the World Championship final in January 2021.
The Flying Scotsman is making his 15th consecutive World Matchplay appearance but returns to Blackpool unseeded in the draw for the first time since 2010.
After a barren 2022 which included First Round defeats in both the World Matchplay and World Grand Prix and saw him drop to 22nd in the Order of Merit, Anderson has roared back into form this term, picking up a Players Championship title and reaching a further two finals.
Champion here five years ago and runner-up behind closed doors in 2020, Anderson is a player with proven Matchplay pedigree and will be determined to continue his resurgence by embarking on another strong run by the seaside.
Chisnall, meanwhile, returns for his 13th consecutive appearance in the event, having fallen at the Quarter-Final hurdle five times between 2013 and 2018.
Chizzy will make the short journey from his home in Morecambe looking to sustain the form which has carried him to two European Tour titles this season, as well as a final on the ProTour only last Monday.
A repeat of another World Championship Semi-Final from 2021 sees world number four Gerwyn Price take on Stephen Bunting.
Price prevailed by six sets to four on that occasion and went on to clinch the world title the following day, becoming world number one in the process.
Since then, ‘The Ice Man’ has added a third Grand Slam title, as well as a second World Cup title alongside Jonny Clayton for Wales last month.
After reaching the Premier League play-offs this year for the first time, Price was denied glory by Michael van Gerwen in the final and returns to the Winter Gardens – where MVG also proved to be his nemesis in the final 12 months ago.
Price had historically struggled in this competition prior to 2022 but produced his blistering best form in reaching the final, notably landing a nine-darter in his Semi-Final win over Danny Noppert.
Bunting knows what it takes to overcome Price on this stage, having done so in 2019 when he edged a nail-biting First Round contest 13-12 in a sudden death leg after trailing 6-3.
The former Lakeside Champion went on to reach the Quarter-Finals that year – his best run in the tournament to date – but has failed to win a match in his two subsequent appearances.
Kicking off the week’s action is a show-down between former Masters champion Joe Cullen and Belgian newcomer Mike De Decker.
Cullen, last year’s Premier League runner-up, is making his eighth consecutive World Matchplay appearance, with his best run coming in 2018 when he reached the Quarter-Finals before losing out to eventual champion Anderson in a 36-leg epic.
Cullen has reached two Euro Tour Semi-Finals this season and was also a semi-finalist in last Tuesday’s Players Championship 16 – where he defeated De Decker along the way.
De Decker is one of two debutants in this year’s World Matchplay and is looking to emulate his compatriot Dimitri van den Bergh – who won this title at the first attempt in 2020.
A prolific 180 hitter, De Decker has enjoyed a breakthrough campaign so far which saw him reach his first ranking final at Players Championship 11 in May, finishing runner-up to Rob Cross.
Cross, the 2019 World Matchplay champion, gets his latest campaign under way with a clash against a familiar opponent in Daryl Gurney.
Cross became only the fourth player in PDC history to win both the World Championship and World Matchplay when he triumphed here four years ago and famously defeated Gurney in an epic Semi-Final.
In doing so, ‘Voltage’ pulled off the greatest comeback in World Matchplay history as he recovered from 15-9 down to prevail 17-15.
The 2018 World Champion began this season by finishing runner-up in The Masters and has gone on to clinch his first Euro Tour title, as well as a Players Championship title.
Gurney also reached the Semi-Finals here in 2017 and the two-time major winner will be out to avenge that heart-breaking defeat to reach the Last 16 for the sixth time in eight World Matchplay appearances.
The action gets under way from 7pm BST, with First Round matches to be contested over the best of 19 legs.
All matches must be won by two clear legs, with a match being extended if necessary for a maximum of six extra legs before a sudden death leg is required. For example, in a first to ten First Round match, if the score reaches 12-12 then the 25th leg will be the sudden death decider.
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World Matchplay 2023 Day One Schedule
Saturday July 15
First Round
7.15pm Joe Cullen v Mike De Decker
8.15pm Rob Cross v Daryl Gurney
9.15pm Gerwyn Price v Stephen Bunting
10.15pm Dave Chisnall v Gary Anderson
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