Price and Smith go head-to-head (Photo by Jonas Hunold/PDC Europe)
The Second Round action commences at the 2024 Betfred World Matchplay on Tuesday as Nathan Aspinall steps up the defence of his title in Blackpool.
Round One at the Winter Gardens saw four seeds bite the dust, though five former champions remain in the running for glory.
Aspinall, who thrashed Jonny Clayton 18-6 in last year’s final, is bidding to become only the fourth player to successfully retain the Betfred World Matchplay title, after Phil Taylor, Rod Harrington and Michael van Gerwen.
The Asp narrowly missed out on a place in the Premier League play-offs for the second successive year and is making his sixth World Matchplay appearance, having reached at least the quarter-final stage in each of his last three.
The tenacious Stockport star continues to contend with injury problems and played through the pain barrier to defeat debutant Luke Woodhouse 10-8 on opening night, later admitting he would have pulled out of the tournament had he not been defending champion.
Aspinall is now tasked with a formidable tie against 2007 champion James Wade – who dug deep to secure the 16th and final qualification spot.
Wade, a six-time finalist in Blackpool, dumped out 12th seed Danny Noppert 10-5 in Round One with a 96 average and is vying to reach his first quarter-final here since 2019.
The opening match of the night sees 2022 runner-up Gerwyn Price take on former European Champion Ross Smith.
The Welshman endured a Premier League campaign to forget and has pulled out of a number of events this season, including The Masters and the recent World Cup, but did pick up the Nordic Masters title last month as well as reaching the final of the International Open.
Price got off and running with a 10-4 rout of Daryl Gurney on opening night, averaging 99.4 and will be keen to pick up from where he left off.
Smith secured his first win on the World Matchplay stage at the third time of asking courtesy of a commanding 10-4 defeat of Josh Rock and victory here would see him reach only a third major televised ranking quarter-final.
World number one Luke Humphries resumes his quest for a maiden Matchplay crown with a clash against Masters champion Stephen Bunting.
Humphries has racked up four major televised ranking titles since last October and added the World Cup to his haul last month on his debut for England alongside Michael Smith.
Runner-up in the UK Open and Premier League, Humphries is making only his fourth World Matchplay appearance, with his best run to date coming 12 months ago when he reached the semi-finals – only to be denied 17-15 by Clayton in an epic.
The reigning World Champion opened up with a sensational 108.7 average in thrashing Ricardo Pietreczko, while Bunting battled his way past Ryan Joyce 12-10 in a hard-fought tie break.
The Bullet is bidding to improve on a below-par record in this event which has seen him fail to surpass the Second Round stage in eight of his nine previous campaigns.
Elsewhere, 2020 champion Dimitri van den Bergh takes on last year’s runner-up Jonny Clayton.
Van den Bergh, who finished runner-up here in 2021, continued his love affair with the tournament by landing a sensational nine-darter in his First Round win over Martin Schindler.
Van den Bergh has reached at least the semi-final stage in three of his previous four World Matchplay appearances, but faces a tricky assignment against a resurgent Clayton – who averaged 100.7 in dispatching 2010 finalist Raymond van Barneveld 10-7.
The tenacious Welshman has struggled for consistency in front of the TV cameras since last year’s final run, but did reach the Last 16 of the UK Open and was runner-up in May’s Dutch Darts Championship.
The action gets under way from 7pm BST, with Second Round matches to be contested over the best of 21 legs.
Matches will be extended if necessary for a maximum of six extra legs before a sudden death leg is required. For example, in a first to 11 Second Round match, if the score reaches 13-13 then the 26th leg will be sudden death.
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