Last week, we brought you all the latest results from the first two rounds of the 2023 PDC World Darts Championship, as well as a look ahead to the matches scheduled to take place in Round 3 of the popular tournament.
Well, a week has passed, and the tournament has moved on to the semi-final stage, with the two games due to take place later on this evening (Monday 2nd January).
Four players remain in with a chance of the title, three of those perhaps expected to be amongst the front runners, and one other who has certainly surprised many with how far they have come in the tournament.
As usual, bet365 Sport is offering a wide range of pre-match and in play betting markets on both games this evening, the first starting at 7.45pm and the second of which is scheduled to get underway around 9.30pm.
You can also get the latest outright betting with the bookmaker too with just four players remaining, the prices on them have changed a great deal over the last two weeks or so.
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Let’s now catch up a little on how things have moved on from the first two rounds of the tournament with a look back at how things went from the third round onwards.
PDC World Darts Championship 2023
The first two rounds of action didn’t see too many shock wins, with just three seeds, Daryl Gurney, Callan Rydz and James Wade, not making it through to the third round. That meant 29 seeded players along with three non-seeds would contest the third round which began on the 27th December.
Third Round Results (All Matches Best Of Seven)
- Dmitri Van den Bergh 4-1 Krzysztof Ratajski
- Nathan Aspinall 3-4 Josh Rock
- Jonny Clayton 4-1 Brendan Dolan
- Jim Williams 3-4 Gabriel Clemens
- Gerwyn Price 4-0 Raymond van Barneveld
- Peter Wright 1-4 Kim Huybrechts
- Ryan Searle 3-4 Jose de Sousa
- Danny Noppert 2-4 Alan Soutar
- Gary Anderson 1-4 Chris Dobey
- Joe Cullen 4-0 Damon Heta
- Michael van Gerwen 4-2 Mensur Suljovic
- Michael Smith 4-3 Martin Schindler
- Dirk van Duijvenbode 4-3 Ross Smith
- Rob Cross 4-1 Mervyn King
- Dave Chisnall 2-4 Stephen Bunting
- Luke Humphries 4-3 Vincent Van der Voort
The biggest shock in the third round came when the defending champion, Peter Wright was knocked out of the tournament in emphatic style by the 31st seed Kim Huybrechts, a player who has not enjoyed too many great results of late but who does have a decent record against the former 2x World Champion.
Other surprise results saw Dave Chisnall lose to fellow St. Helens player and former BDO World Champion Stephen Bunting, while Gary Anderson, another 2x World Champion, was knocked out of the tournament by Chris Dobey.
Josh Rock’s good form continued as he knocked out the seeded Nathan Aspinall, while perhaps the best performance was Gerwyn Price’s 4-0 thrashing of Raymond van Barneveld, although Joe Cullen’s 4-0 win over Damon Heta was another excellent showing.
Fourth Round Results (All Matches Best of Seven)
- Gerwyn Price 4-1 Jose de Sousa
- Jonny Clayton 4-3 Josh Rock
- Kim Huybrechts 0-4 Dimitri Van den Bergh
- Gabriel Clemens 4-1 Alan Soutar
- Michael Smith 4-1 Joe Cullen
- Rob Cross 2-4 Chris Dobey
- Michael van Gerwen 4-1 Dirk van Duijvenbode
- Luke Humphries 1-4 Stephen Bunting
Gerwyn Price’s excellent form in the competition continued as he moved smoothly into the quarterfinals with a 4-1 win over Jose de Sousa, although he was forced to apologise for some gestures he made during the game.
In the game of the round, Jonny Clayton came from 3-2 down to defeat Josh Rock 4-3 in a cracking match and then in the All-Belgian clash, Kim Huybrechts could not find the form he had against Peter Wright in the last round as he went down to a 4-0 defeat to Dimitri Van den Bergh.
Gabriel Clemens saw off the unseeded Alan Soutar 4-1, while Michael van Gerwen, Stephen Bunting and Michael Smith all recorded 4-1 wins over Dirk van Duijvenbode, Luke Humphries, and Joe Cullen respectively.
Chris Dobey caused a shock when he beat former World Champion Rob Cross 4-2 to set himself up for a crack at Michael van Gerwen in the quarters.
Quarter Final Results (All Matches Best of Nine)
- Dmitri Van den Bergh 5-3 Jonny Clayton
- Michael Smith 5-3 Stephen Bunting
- Gerwyn Price 1-5 Gabriel Clemens
- Michael van Gerwen 5-0 Chris Dobey
The quarterfinal games were played over a best of nine format and the two most intriguing games kicked things off as after being behind Jonny Clayton 3-2 after five sets, Dimitri Van den Bergh rattled off three sets in a row to clinch a 5-3 win and a second appearance in the semi finals of this tournament.
He was joined by Michael Smith who went out to an initial 4-1 lead over Stephen Bunting, but Bunting won the next two sets to make it 4-3 before Smith closed out the game in the eighth set to reach the semi-finals once again.
Then came the somewhat surprising result. Gerwyn Price came out for his game with Gabriel Clemens with ear defenders and ear plugs in but despite taking the first set, his game fell apart as he won just four more legs as Clemens reeled off five sets in a row to claim an astonishing 5-1 victory.
After that game Price claimed he was not going to compete in this tournament again as he felt the partisan crowd had put him off his game.
Whether that holds true or not remains to be seen.
In the final Quarterfinal, it was plain sailing for tournament favourite Michael van Gerwen who conceded just three games on his way to a rampant 5-0 win over Chris Dobey.
Semi Finals Preview (All Matches Best Of Eleven)
- Gabriel Clemens (12/5) v Michael Smith (1/3) – 7.45pm
Michael Smith goes into this first semi final as the favourite to beat Gabriel Clemens, with the German becoming the first player from his country to reach this stage of the tournament.
Unlike previous semi final appearances, Smith comes into this game as a Major tournament winner after his Grand Slam success a couple of months back and there is no doubt that the victory has eased the pressure on him here and that could well be crucial as he seeks a first World title.
Clemens though has nothing to lose and the manner of his win over Price was very impressive, meaning that this is a game that Clemens will have a big say in.
Despite this, Bully Boy is in great form and after one close game against a German earlier in the tournament, a 4-3 win over Martin Schindler, I expect the longer format to be more to the English players advantage.
I’d back Michael Smith to win this one 6-3 which is 9/2 with bet365.
- Dmitri Van den Bergh (9/2) v Michael van Gerwen (1/7) – 9.30pm (est)
If both these players hit top form, then this could well be a classic. Van Gerwen has certainly been in superb form throughout this tournament and looked absolutely sublime against Chris Dobey and the longer format of the game will suit him.
But, Dimitri Van den Bergh is a former World Youth Champion, he has been a semi-finalist here before and he has beaten Michael van Gerwen previously too, although the Dutch superstar has won the bigger matches in the Premier League (in 2021), World Matchplay in 2022 and the Player’s Championship back in November when he won 10-6.
Certainly, the bookmakers feel this is van Gerwen’s match to lose and at 1/7, there are not going to be too many fans backing his opponent for the win here.
I do feel Van den Bergh though is much better than his odds suggest, but I am still predicting a Michael van Gerwen victory by a 6-4 scoreline, which is a 6/1 shot with bet365.
