World Darts Championship 2023/24 | Quarter-Finals Preview and Order of Play

The new year begins with a bang as the Quarter-Finals of the World Darts Championship take centre stage at Alexandra Palace.

Ninety-six came, now just eight remain in the hunt for the Sid Waddell Trophy and £500,000 top prize in the capital.

The sport’s flagship event is set for a gripping climax over the next three days as the remaining hopefuls bid to put their name in the history books, with two former World Champions, two current major champions and a teenage sensation among the line-up.

The Quarter-Finals are split across two sessions on New Year’s Day, with the afternoon featuring the latest chapter of the history-making debut campaign of Luke Littler.

The 16-year-old has made global headlines by announcing himself as the sport’s brightest young talent on the biggest stage of all over the past fortnight.

The reigning World Youth champion has already made history by becoming the youngest player to win a match at the PDC World Championship and has backed that up with three more dominant displays, dropping just three sets en route to this stage.

Littler thrashed 2012 Lakeside Champion Christian Kist in straight sets with a 106.12 average – the highest of any debutant in the World Championship, before dumping out UK Open champion Andrew Gilding and Canadian number one Matt Campbell with averages of 92 and 97 respectively.

He then dismantled his darting idol Raymond van Barneveld 4-1 in the Last 16 with 105 average, nine 180s and 50 per cent on the doubles.

The fearless youngster’s next test comes against another vastly experienced arrowsmith in Brendan Dolan – an ever-present in the World Championship for the 15 years.

Dolan has enjoyed a terrific run to only his second Quarter-Final at Ally Pally, knocking out two former World Champions and coming through two thrilling last-set deciders.

The Northern Irishman, who also defeated Michael van Gerwen in July’s World Matchplay, pulled off another huge upset as he dumped out 2021 World Champion Gerwyn Price with a memorable 4-2 success, having come through a classic contest to deny compatriot Mickey Mansell in a sudden death leg.

The 50-year-old then ousted two-time World Champion Gary Anderson in a seven-set decider on December 30th and will be out to utilise his vast experience to bring Littler’s landmark run to an end.

The opening tie of the afternoon sees Chris Dobey take on Rob Cross in a repeat of the 2023 Masters final.

Dobey prevailed 11-7 on that occasion to claim his first televised title last January – a triumph which earned him a debut appearance in the Premier League, while Cross missed out.

Dobey is appearing in his second successive World Championship Quarter-Final as he bids to atone for last year’s crushing 5-0 defeat at the hands of Michael van Gerwen.

The Bedlington ace averaged 103 in a thrilling five-set win over William O’Connor in Round Two with ten 180s along the way, and that match was emulated by a scintillating tie against Ross Smith which saw the pair exchange 27 maximums as Dobey prevailed 4-2 with another ton-topping average.

Dobey then dethroned reigning champion Michael Smith thanks to a ruthless 4-0 whitewash and is the only player to have averaged above 100 in each of his matches en route to this year’s Quarter-Finals.

Cross finds himself in the Quarter-Finals here for the first time since he famously lifted the trophy on his debut in 2018, having dropped just two sets along the way.

Twice a World Series event winner and a European Tour winner this season, ‘Voltage’ started his run here with a 3-0 rout of France’s Thibault Tricole, before overcoming Sweden’s Jeffrey de Graaf 4-2 and whitewashing a struggling Jonny Clayton 4-0 to take his tournament average of 97.7.

The evening session begins with a showdown between three-time World Champion Michael van Gerwen and world number 52 Scott Williams.

Van Gerwen has romped into his tenth Quarter-Final at Ally Pally since 2013 without dropping a set and is bidding to reach the final for the fifth time in his last eight attempts.

The Dutch superstar claimed glory here in 2014, 2017 and 2019, joining only Phil Taylor in landing three or more PDC world titles in the 30-year history of the competition.

He was denied glory last year by nine-darter Michael Smith in an historic final but has returned in rampant fashion, brushing aside Irish youngster Keane Barry 3-0 before thrashing Dutch compatriot Richard Veenstra 4-0 with a 101.4 average and sweeping aside in-form Stephen Bunting 4-0 with a 99.8 average.

Williams, meanwhile, is enjoying his best run in a televised tournament to date, defying the odds to knock out three seeded players and climb a minimum of 17 places to 35th in the provisional Order of Merit.

The former Players Championship event winner, who was beaten by Cross in Round Two on his debut here last year, has displayed trademark flamboyance to wow the crowd and is now poised for the biggest match of his life.

After defeating PDC Asian champion Haruki Muramatsu 3-1 in Round One, Williams dumped out seventh Danny Noppert in straight sets.

The former ProTour event winner came agonisingly close to a nine-darter in the last set against Noppert, wiring double 18 for perfection, and went on to knock out 26th seed Martin Schindler in a last-set thriller and tenth seed Damon Heta 4-1 to continue his dream run.

A fitting finale to the day’s action sees three-time major winner Luke Humphries take on multiple major finalist Dave Chisnall.

The pair have contested a number of epic encounters this season, including three European Tour finals, each won by Chisnall.

Humphries has had to survive two huge scares to keep his hopes of a maiden world title alive, notably coming through a sudden death classic to edge out Joe Cullen in the final match of 2023, surviving multiple match darts in the process.

Having swept aside Lee Evans in his opener, Humphries was also forced to recover from 3-1 down to deny Germany’s Ricardo Pietreczko in a last-set decider as he defied a partisan German contingent in the crowd.

Humphries came in to the tournament as favourite on the back of a remarkable spell of dominance, having claimed the World Grand Prix, Grand Slam and Players Championship Finals titles in a period of less than two months and now finds himself into a fourth World Championship Quarter-Final.

Chisnall is also through to the Quarter-Finals at Ally Pally for the fourth time, with his best run to date coming behind closed doors in 2021, sensationally whitewashing Van Gerwen 5-0 with a 107 average before losing out to Gary Anderson in the Semi-Finals.

Chizzy has put an otherwise below-par season in TV majors behind him, defeating Cameron Menzies, Gabriel Clemens and Daryl Gurney with increased averages in each round.

The multiple major finalist has had the measure of Humphries on the Euro Tour this season but will be determined to maintain that record in their most high-profile meeting to date.

The action gets under way from 12.30pm GMT, with Quarter-Final matches to be contested over the best nine sets.

Matches must be won by two clear legs, unless the score reaches 5-5 in the deciding set, in which case a sudden-death leg will be played.

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World Darts Championship 2023/24 Quarter-Finals Schedule

Monday January 1

Afternoon Session (12.30pm-4pm)
Chris Dobey v Rob Cross
Luke Littler v Brendan Dolan

Evening Session (7pm-10pm)
Michael van Gerwen v Scott Williams
Luke Humphries v Dave Chisnall