Live Darts on Tuesday | World Matchplay 2026 Day Four Preview and Order of Play

The second round gets under way at the 2026 World Matchplay on Tuesday with four former champions amongst a star-studded line-up in Blackpool.

A seismic shock on Day Three saw 2024 champion Luke Humphries crash out of the competition at the hands of an inspired Cameron Menzies, becoming the second of three seeds to fall by the wayside at the Winter Gardens.

A host of big names now collide in the Last 16 with the business end of the tournament in sight as the stakes and format increase.

Reigning champion Luke Littler resumes the defence of the Phil Taylor Trophy with a blockbuster tie against 2023 champion Nathan Aspinall.

Luke Littler is bidding to become only the fourth player in the history of the competition to successfully retain the title and is also out to maintain his clean sweep of major titles this season, having won the World Championship, World Masters, UK Open, Premier League and World Cup of Darts.

The teenage sensation became the youngest player (18) ever to lift this prestigious trophy when he triumphed here last year with victory over James Wade in the final, following on from his nine-dart heroics in an epic semi-final against Josh Rock.

Littler, who stormed past Niko Springer on opening night with a 109.5 average, has won the last five major ranking titles, with his last defeat in a ranked major coming against James Wade in last October’s European Championship.

Aspinall is appearing in the second round for the fifth time in his last six visits to Blackpool, having swept aside Joe Cullen 10-5 with a 105.3 average on Saturday night.

Runner-up in last year’s Players Championship Finals, Aspinall added to his European Tour title tally by winning the German Darts Grand Prix in April, though ProTour appearances have proved few and far between.

Ominously for ‘The Asp’, he has won just three of his 19 previous meetings with Littler across all competitions.

A mouth-watering start to Tuesday’s proceedings sees 2018 champion Gary Anderson take on 2023 finalist Jonny Clayton.

Anderson, who also finished runner-up behind closed doors in 2020, has failed to progress beyond the second round in his last five appearances at the Winter Gardens.

However, he enjoyed a resurgent run to the semi-finals of this year’s World Championship, as well as partnering Menzies to the semi-finals of last month’s World Cup of Darts for Scotland.

The 55-year-old produced, statistically, his best-ever display at the World Matchplay in thrashing Ryan Joyce 10-2 on Sunday with an average of 109.96 – the highest of the tournament so far.

Clayton reached the Last Four here 12 months ago – one of three consecutive major ranking semi-final appearances in 2025 and also enjoyed a memorable return to the Premier League this season which culminated in a semi-final defeat.

The Welsh number one overcame Damon Heta 10-7 in Sunday’s opener with a 97.6 average and has won six of his last eight meetings with Anderson.

An unmissable all-Dutch affair sees three-time champion Michael van Gerwen take on Dirk van Duijvenbode.

Van Gerwen, who has lifted this trophy in 2015, 2016 and 2022, most recently reached the final in 2024 when he finished runner-up to Luke Humphries.

However, that final run has been sandwiched between first and second round exits at the Winter Gardens, and he has reached just one semi-final in his last nine televised ranking majors.

MVG recovered from a slow start to see off Andrew Gilding 10-6 in Round One, overturning a 4-1 deficit and missing double 12 for a nine-darter in the process.

Van Duijvenbode, who reached the quarter-finals here in 2022 and has also reached the final of a ProTour event this season, dug deep to deny Chris Dobey in a tense tie break after surviving four match darts.

The final match of the evening sees Premier League stars Josh Rock and Stephen Bunting go head-to-head.

Rock’s memorable run to the semi-finals 12 months ago saw him defeat Ross Smith, Michael van Gerwen and Gerwyn Price before eventually losing out to Littler 17-14 in a thrilling contest which saw him average 104.

The former World Cup champion enjoyed a serene start on his return as he eased past Luke Woodhouse 10-4, but will be eyeing a marked improved on his match average of 90.4.

Bunting is bidding for a third quarter-final appearance in Blackpool after opening up with a nail-biting 13-12 victory over debutant Niels Zonneveld on Saturday night.

The former Lakeside champion, who secured a fifth-place finish in this year’s Premier League, has won six of his nine previous meetings with Rock.

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 27th leg will be the sudden death decider.

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World Matchplay 2026 Day Four Schedule

Tuesday July 21

Second Round

7pm-11pm
Jonny Clayton v Gary Anderson
Michael van Gerwen v Dirk van Duijvenbode
Luke Littler v Nathan Aspinall
Josh Rock v Stephen Bunting