The 2022 PDC World Darts Championship first two rounds are now in the history books and the field has now been reduced to 32 remaining players from the 96 that started the tournament. Amongst those that have been eliminated from the tournament are a number of top seeds, as well as some famous names from years gone by. In this article, we are going to review the opening two rounds of the tournament before giving you a quick preview of the third round of games (which started today) and also who we think has looked strongest in the opening couple of rounds of competition. Remember, if you would like to have a bet on any of the Third Round matches or subsequent games in later rounds, then bet365 Sport offers an extensive range of bets both pre-match and also In Play on every game in the World Championship. And if you are based in the United States, then you can follow all the action with BetRivers Sportsbook, which also offers excellent betting on the major darts tournaments throughout the year.

Seeds Tumble Out In Second Round Shocks

Every year the PDC World Championship provides us with its fair share of shock results, especially in the early rounds of the competition and the 2022 competition has been exactly the same. The top half of the draw has been particularly tough on some of the seeds in the tournament. Stephen Bunting, a former BDO World Champion, was ousted by Ross Smith in a 3-2 defeat and Glen Durrant’s struggles continued as the former Premier League champion was easily beaten 3-0 by William O’Connor. Next up, the Wizard of Oz, Simon Whitlock was sent packing in the second round as Dutchman Martijn Kleermaker earned a 3-1 win over the 20^th seed. However, a bigger shock was to follow as fifth seed Dimitri Van den Bergh was ousted from the tournament 3-1 by unseeded Florian Hempel. The young Belgian has a good record in this tournament and was many people’s dark horse choice to win it, so his early defeat was a huge surprise. Yet that wasn’t the end of the seeds troubles in the top half of the draw as Devon Peterson, the 28^th seed, then went out comprehensively beaten 3-0 by Raymond Smith and then the 12^th seed Krzysztof Ratajski was beaten 3-1 by the Irishman Steve Lennon. Despite the high number of seeds bowing out in the top half of the draw, there are still plenty of top quality stars in the tournament in this half of the draw including Gerwyn Price, the top seed, who faces 32^nd seed Kim Huybrechts in Round 3. Other big names through in the top half include James Wade, Michael Smith, Mervyn King, Dirk van Duijvenbode, Vincent van der Voort, Gabriel Clemens and Joe Cullen.

Less Shocks In The Bottom Half Of The Draw

Most of the shock results in this year’s World Championships came in the top half of the draw, but there were still a couple of surprise results in the bottom half of the draw. Only two seeds from the bottom half of the draw saw their interest end early. Mensur Suljovic’s poor form of late continued with a 3-2 defeat to Alan Soutar, while Callan Rydz continued his good form of late on the floor with a 3-0 win over 23^rd seed Brendan Dolan. Eye-catching results in this round saw Gary Anderson beat Adrian Lewis 3-1, while Rob Cross defeated another former Champion in Raymond van Barneveld by the same scoreline. The most dramatic wins saw Jose De Sousa defeat Jason Lowe 3-2, and 30^th seed Chris Dobey came from 2-0 down in sets to defeat Rusty-Jake Rodriguez 3-2 and earn his place in the third round. Other big names to make it through in the bottom half includes Peter Wright, Nathan Aspinall, Michael van Gerwen, Dave Chisnall, Ian White, Daryl Gurney, Luke Humphries, Danny Noppert, Ryan Searle and Damon Heta.

PDC Third Round Draw

The draw for the PDC World Championship Third Round is as follows.

• Ross Smith v Dirk van Duijvenbode
• Michael Smith v William O’Connor
• Florian Hempel v Raymond Smith
• James Wade v Vincent van der Voort
• Gerwyn Price v Jim Huybrechts
• Jonny Clayton v Gabriel Clemens
• Steve Lennon v Mervyn King
• Ryan Searle v Danny Noppert
• Joe Cullen v Martijn Kleermaker
• Rob Cross v Daryl Gurney
• Peter Wright v Damon Heta
• Michael van Gerwen v Chris Dobey
• Jose de Sousa v Alan Soutar
• Dave Chisnall v Luke Humphries
• Nathan Aspinall v Callan Rydz
• Gary Anderson v Ian White

The action has already started with the Smith v van Duijvenbode game underway as I write this piece, so if you want to bet on any of the third round games listed above, you have between now and the evening session on Wednesday to get your bets on as that is when the final third round game on the list is played.

How Have The Outright Odds Changed?

In truth, despite seeing so many seeds knocked out in the first round, the odds on offer for the top players have not changed a great deal as a result. When the tournament started, there were four players that were fancied more than any others and that remains the case. We now have joint-favourites for the title with Gerwyn Price and Michael van Gerwen both rated as 4/1 chances, with Jonny Clayton 13-2 and Peter Wright 7/1. After that it is Michael Smith at 16/1, Rob Cross at 20/1 and Ryan Searle at 22/1. Gary Anderson is at 25/1 with Wade, Cullen de Sousa all at 28/1 and Nathan Aspinall the 30/1 chance. While you can never rule out any player, probably the only player rated at 40/1 or better that I feel could win it if they were in top form is Dave Chisnall (50/1) but he does face a very tough draw to reach the final. I see no reason to move away from my pick of Peter Wright to win the tournament this year, although it does look like the bottom half of the draw is going to be the toughest of the two to get through to reach the final.