WDF World Championship 2023 | Day Three Preview and Order of Play
The seeded players kick off their 2023 WDF World Championship campaigns at Lakeside on Monday as the Second Round action commences.
The opening two days have seen a series of ranking tournament winners and qualifiers collide for the right to face one of 16 seeds in the men’s draw and eight seeds in the women’s competition.
Monday plays host to another bumper double session at the home of world darts, kicking off with a tie between former PDC Challenge Tour event winner James Richardson and Australia’s Peter Machin – the 2017 BDO World Trophy winner.
The afternoon session also includes a show-down between Scottish veteran Mark Barilli, the ninth seed, and American ace Jim Widmayer – who defied the odds to defeat Hungary’s Patrik Kovács in Round One.
Scotland’s Gary Stone, winner of this year’s Romanian Classic, starts out against Swedish debutant Ricky Nauman – who battled past Aaron Turner in a third set decider on Saturday.
Eighth seed Anca Zijlstra, the 2022 Swiss Open champion, begins her campaign against Paula Murphy of the USA – who edged out Almudena Fajardo 2-1 in her opener.
The evening session sees Beau Greaves launch the defence of her world title with a clash against Lorraine Hyde.
Greaves has established herself as the dominant force in women’s darts and is bidding to become the fifth multiple Women’s World Champion.
Greaves, who opted out of a place in the PDC World Championship in order to return to Lakeside, is the overwhelming favourite to scoop the £25,000 top prize once again and warmed up for this event with a superb showing in last month’s Grand Slam of Darts.
Hyde, meanwhile, was a 2-1 winner over Laura Turner in Round One and reached the Quarter-Finals of the 2022 World Masters and 2023 Dutch Open.
Arguably the stand-out tie of the day sees men’s number one seed Andy Baetens take on emerging Polish star Sebastian Białecki.
Belgian star Baetens has dominated the WDF circuit this year by picking up eight ranking titles and is twice a Lakeside quarter-finalist.
Baetens was also runner-up in this year’s Dutch Open and impressed on his PDC European Tour debut – reaching the Last 16 of the Belgian Darts Open.
Białecki narrowly missed out on a place in the PDC World Championship, losing in the final of the East European qualifier last week, but his 2022 Denmark Open title assured him of a debut at Lakeside – where he powered past Scott Marsh in straight sets on Saturday.
Elsewhere, eighth seed Barry Copeland of Northern Ireland faces Aussie ace Jonny Tata – a truck driver who sensationally defeated Peter Wright 6-3 in August’s New Zealand Masters.
Fourth seed James Hurrell, a multiple WDF tournament winner who has also picked up a PDC Challenge Tour title this year, faces a tricky opener against Swedish veteran Dennis Nilsson – a regular in the PDC World Cup of Darts and European Tour who defeated Jordan Brooks 2-0 in Round One.
The action gets under way from 1pm GMT, with Men’s Second Round ties to be contested over the best of five sets and Women’s Second Round ties best of three sets.
WDF World Championship 2023 Day Three Schedule
Monday December 4
Second Round
Afternoon session (1pm-5pm)
Peter Machin v James Richardson
Anca Zijlstra v Paula Murphy
Mark Barilli v Jim Widmayer
Gary Stone v Ricky Nauman
Evening session (7pm-11pm)
Barry Copeland v Jonny Tata
Beau Greaves v Lorraine Hyde
Andy Baetens v Sebastian Białecki
James Hurrell v Dennis Nilsson
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