World Darts Championship Day 3: Klaasen v Dekker the highlight
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Day three at the PDC World Darts Championship sees the first double session of the tournament.
The action begins at 12:30 on Saturday afternoon, with one preliminary round match and three subsequent first round games.
Then, after a two-hour break, the arrows get going once again with Jelle Klaasen, Jan Dekker and Gary Anderson all in action.
We’ve previewed the four first-round matches from the day that have no prelim involvement.
Benito van de Pas v Steve West
Benito Van De Pas should have the quality to triumph against Steve West at 8/13.
Big Ben has reached the last-16 of the last three PDC World Championships and has beaten ‘Simply’ in three of their four meetings.
West himself is yet to progress past the first round in any World Championship, BDO or PDC.
Van De Pas has the power scoring to comfortably see off the Englishman and provides good value at 13/5 to hit the Most 180s in the contest. His odds to be King of the Oche – 7/1 – could also be worth a look.
Mervyn King v Zoran Lerchbacher
These two players are separated by 52 places in the PDC Order of Merit.
However, this one could be closer than the odds suggest.
King’s last three appearances in the first round have all ended 3-2, twice in his favour.
Opponent Lerchbacher will enjoy the stop-start nature of set-play more and could cause the 51-year-old some problems.
We like the look of King to edge through 3-2 at 7/2.
Joe Cullen v Jermaine Wattimena
Joe Cullen was involved in one of the games of the tournament last year when he beat Corey Cadby in round one.
Up against Jermaine Wattimena, we’re expecting a repeat of that scoreline at 12/5.
‘Rockstar’ has progressed well on the tour this year and is starting to become a more regular presence in the last-16 of tournaments.
Dutchman Wattimena has yet to show is true quality on the stage and could find this one difficult at 2/1.
If Cullen gets going early on, his odds of 6/4 to be King of the Oche could also provide good value.
Jelle Klaasen v Jan Dekker
Saturday’s headline match sees two fast-paced Dutchmen go head-to-head.
Klaasen reached the semi-final here two years ago and is 4/9 to advance through to the second round for the fourth consecutive year.
Dekker, though, is a danger.
The 27-year-old has had a disappointing year but showed signs of improvement to reach the quarter-finals of the Players Championship last month.
Running into his fellow Dutchman is far from ideal, but we think Double Dekker can take a set off of his compatriot at 13/5.
Click here for the latest 2018 PDC World Championship odds.
All Odds and Markets correct as of date of publication
