Jeffrey de Zwaan v Nitin Kumar

Michael van Gerwen aside, I don’t think there’s a bigger favourite in their opening game than de Zwaan. No pressure then fella! In all seriousness though, he should dispatch of the Indian qualifier Kumar no bother. When there is a player that is 1/50 to win a match, finding value can be tricky but I think I’ve found some.

You can get 9/5 on de Zwaan winning 3-0 in the first set. Should the Dutchman throw first, he’d only have to break once, which is easily done. Even if he has to break twice, the odds are very tempting for a man who beat MVG twice on TV this year.

de Zwaan 3-0 - 1pt @ 9/5

Jan Dekker v Lisa Ashton

It’s very difficult to go by any kind of stats in cross-gender matches, purely because they don’t happen very often! But Ashton is a four-time world champion and anyone who thinks that Dekker will walk this doing handstands will be very much mistaken. 

I can’t quite go as far to say that Ashton will win the match, but I think she will make a few detractors eat their words. I can definitely see the Bolton ace winning a set, which makes the 14/5 available for a 3-1 scoreline in favour of Dekker a great prospect.

3-1 Jan Dekker - 1pt @ 14/5

Rob Cross v de Zwaan/Kumar

Finally, this bet will be all about the world champ. He goes into this one very different from the unknown that he was 12 months ago. But what we saw time and time again was the ability to strike from distance; those three-dart checkouts were his calling card.

I expect him to do the same against whomever he faces and the 4/6 available for ‘Voltage’ to hit the highest checkout is the way to go.

Rob Cross - 1pt @ 4/6