Taylor to romp to victory in second round World Match Play action
Published:Phil Taylor returns to the oche in the second day of action in the second round of the World Match Play and he can be expected to complete a routing success over Ian White.
Elsewhere, close games look on the cards between Ronnie Baxter and Dean Winstanley and Wes Newton and Justin Pipe.
Andy Hamilton to beat Mark Webster @ 8/11
Hamilton has enjoyed a profitable 2012, notably when a beaten finalist at the Ladbrokes World Championships and then with a strong run to reach the semi finals of the Premier League.
Webster’s form has been nowhere close to this level and has only made it to the quarter finals or beyond once in the whole year.
He did not have to play particularly well to beat Colin Lloyd in the opening round at the Winter Gardens and he will have to step up considerably to beat Hamilton, who has also triumphed in four of their six career meetings.
Justin Pipe to beat Wes Newton @ 11/8
Newton has come through in five of the last six meetings between the pair, included a 13-8 success at the same second-round stage of the Match Play last year.
However, Pipe’s sole victory in this period came at the World Championships over the Christmas and New Year period when his slow style seemed to upset Newton.
This could be a factor again, even if Newton will enjoy all of the crowd support, given the close proximity that he lives to the venue.
Phil Taylor (-6.5 games) to beat Ian White @ 8/11
This pair have met three times before and White has only managed to win a total of one leg, which shows the height of his task.
The latest of these was a 6-0 demolition in Reading in March and alongside the added pressure of facing Taylor, White will still be acclimatising to the Winter Gardens in his debut year at the Match Play.
White did play to a high standard in beating Vincent Van Der Voort, but repeating this against Taylor is an entirely different ask.
Dean Winstanley to beat Ronnie Baxter @ 4/5
Based on their first round matches, this match will come down to whether Winstanley can improve his checkout percentage or whether Baxter can score more consistently.
Preference is that Winstanley’s scoring power offers him a slight edge and he can build on his opening-round success over Gary Anderson.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
