Live Darts on December 27th | World Darts Championship 2024/25 Day Ten Preview and Order of Play
The Paddy Power World Darts Championship resumes on Friday as the Third Round action gets under way at Alexandra Palace.
Following the three-day Christmas break, it’s back to business at Ally Pally as the remaining 32 players bid to keep their title challenge on track.
The opening nine days saw a record 14 seeds depart the competition at the Last 64 stage, while Christian Kist landed a memorable nine-darter and a further three players missed double 12 for a perfect leg of their own.
The format now increases as the Last 32 ties commence, with three matches taking place in the afternoon session, followed by a further three in the evening.
Reigning World Champion Luke Humphries steps up the defence of his crown with a clash against Welsh underdog Nick Kenny.
Humphries is bidding to join Phil Taylor, Adrian Lewis and Gary Anderson as only the fourth player to successfully defend the PDC World Championship title, and the world number one got off to a routine start on opening night.
Humphries swept aside France’s Thibault Tricole in straight sets despite a modest 90 average, but the World Matchplay and Players Championship Finals champion will be braced for a much sterner test from an in-form Kenny.
Kenny kicked off his campaign with a straight sets defeat of American ace Stowe Buntz, before pulling off the biggest win of his career as he dumped out five-time World Champion Raymond van Barneveld 3-1.
That win moved the 31-year-old into the top 64 on the provisional Order of Merit, bolstering his hopes of retaining a Tour Card at the end of the tournament, and he will now be aiming to follow up by registering a momentous scalp of the defending champion.
Another stand-out tie in the evening session sees 2021 World Champion Gerwyn Price take on former Masters champion Joe Cullen.
Price is making his 11th World Championship appearance and is seeded tenth in the draw following a below-par year by his standards.
The seven-time major winner has failed to pick up a PDC ranking title for the first time since 2017, reaching just one final on the European Tour and one final on the ProTour.
Consequently, he came into the World Championship under the radar, but began with a commanding straight sets win over Keane Barry on Day Two of the tournament.
Cullen’s opening salvo, on the other hand, was far from low-key, with the former Premier League finalist storming out of his post-match press conference after defying the bookmaker’s odds to defeat in-form Wessel Nijman 3-0.
Cullen, who was denied only by eventual champion Humphries in an epic sudden death leg last year, slammed the media over what he deemed a ‘lack of respect’ in the build-up to his match against Nijman and will aim to let his darts do the talking once again as he vies to reach the Last 16 for the fourth time in his last five visits to Ally Pally.
Meanwhile, Dutch star Jermaine Wattimena looks to maintain his blistering run of form when he faces two-time World Champion Peter Wright.
Wattimena enjoyed a sensational run to the final of October’s European Championship and has not looked back since, reaching the quarter-finals of the Grand Slam and registering a host of monster averages in recent months.
The world number 36 has got off to a perfect start at the palace, storming to straight sets victories over Switzerland’s Stefan Bellmont and ten-time major winner James Wade.
Wright came into the competition in his lowest seeding position (17) in more than a decade after a tough year on the oche which has seen him fail to reach a televised ranking quarter-final for the first time since 2011.
The colourful Scot finished bottom of the Premier League table and had suffered opening round exits in each of his last five televised ranking tournaments before stopping the rot against Wesley Plaisier with a 3-1 success ten days ago.
It has proven to be feast or famine for ‘Snakebite’ at Ally Pally in recent years, winning the title in 2020 and 2022, but suffering Second Round exits in 2018, 2019 and 2024.
The afternoon session features a showdown between multiple major champions Jonny Clayton and Daryl Gurney.
Clayton is making his ninth World Championship appearance and is the number seven seed, having finished runner-up in this year’s Dutch Championship, while also picking up a ProTour title.
The tenacious Welshman is looking to reach the Last 16 for the fourth consecutive year, having battled through a nail-biting sudden death leg against Mickey Mansell before Christmas.
Gurney has reached the quarter-finals at Ally Pally on two previous occasions and got his latest campaign under way with an impressive 3-2 win over Germany’s Florian Hempel, averaging 98.3 in the process.
Former World Cup of Darts winner Damon Heta faces a tough assignment against European Championship semi-finalist Luke Woodhouse.
Heta reached his first major ranking semi-final at the UK Open in March and has claimed two Players Championship titles this season, and the outgoing Aussie is into the Third Round at Ally Pally for the fourth year running after averaging 98 in a high quality 3-1 win over Connor Scutt.
Woodhouse is aiming to progress to the Last 16 of the sport’s showpiece event for the first time after seeing off Lourence Ilagan in straight sets, before knocking out World Grand Prix champion Mike De Decker 3-1 to close in on a place in the world’s top 32.
Elsewhere, Masters champion Stephen Bunting comes up against Latvian number one Madars Razma.
Bunting, Lakeside Champion in 2014 and a semi-finalist at Ally Pally in 2021, has finished runner-up in a staggering six Players Championship events this season.
The number eight seed came from a set down to reel off three in a row and deny German debutant Kai Gotthardt in Round Two.
Razma is appearing in the Third Round here for the second successive year, having defied a nine-darter from Christian Kist in Round One, before recovering from a set down to dispatch 25th seed Dirk van Duijvenbode 3-1.
The action gets under way from 12.30pm GMT, with Third Round matches to be contested over the best of seven sets, best of five legs per set.
The final set must be won by two clear legs, unless the score reaches 5-5, in which case a sudden death leg will be played.
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World Darts Championship 2024/25 Day Ten Schedule
Friday December 27
Third Round
Afternoon Session (12.30pm-5pm)
Damon Heta v Luke Woodhouse
Jonny Clayton v Daryl Gurney
Stephen Bunting v Madars Razma
Evening Session (7pm-11pm)
Gerwyn Price v Joe Cullen
Jermaine Wattimena v Peter Wright
Luke Humphries v Nick Kenny
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