World Matchplay Semi-Final Tips: Dimitri's Matchplay love affair to continue

Abigail Davies
23 July 2022
2:30 min read

Dimi to extend superb record at the World Matchplay

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It's semi-finals night here at the Winter Gardens and Abigail Davies thinks Dimitri Van den Bergh is going to be incredibly hard to beat...

"The Belgian admitted that at 4-1 down thoughts quickly turned to last year's final where he found himself blown away early on by the eventual winner of the tournament. He has learnt from what he did wrong in that match and certainly showed that he is a stronger player now than he was back then.

Two time champion Michael van Gerwen remains the favourite to go all the way at 2/1 while Dimitri Van den Bergh who has only ever lost one game in this event is available at 5/2, the same price as new number one, Gerwyn Price.

Dimi to deliver once again

The Dream Maker put down another statement on Thursday evening. Much of the talk prior to his game against Peter Wright was about his less than favourable record against Snakebite and the fact that he had never beaten the Scot on television.

The Belgian admitted that at 4-1 down thoughts quickly turned to last year's final where he found himself blown away early on by the eventual winner of the tournament. He has learnt from what he did wrong in that match and certainly showed that he is a stronger player now than he was back then.

Dimitri dug deep and with a fabulous 177 set up shot, left himself on 44 to win the match, which he took out in two darts and the emotion at the end of the match was clear for all to see.

He takes on two time champion Michael van Gerwen for a place in the final, the Dutchman was in fine spirits after his quarter-final win and even treated me to a verse of "I want to break free" during our post-match interview. There were a few edgy moments in that match but MvG is warming into this tournament very nicely indeed which is not a very good sign for the others left in the event.

Van den Bergh has done very little wrong in this tournament, ever. The only match he has lost in this tournament was the final last year and this time around he has been sublime on the outer ring, his board management has been strong and he has maintained a laser like focus whether in front or behind in matches.

At 6/5 I think the 2020 champion is a great price to come through this one.

The Freeze too cool for The Iceman

Danny Noppert produced some sublime finishing in his win over Dirk van Duijvenbode despite tops, often his favourite double, deserting him for much of the match.

noppy darts.jpg

He wasn't aware until I showed him his stats at the end of the match that he had hit the same number of maximums as his opponent and good friend in van Duijvenbode and actually hit six more 140s than The Aubergenius but in addition to some top scoring, there were a number of impressive combination finishes under pressure including a hugely significant 150 outshot which really changed the complexion of the game and then a 121 to complete the victory.

He comes up against the only other player left who has never before reached this stage of the tournament in Gerwyn Price who will return to world number one at the end of this event because he has bettered Peter Wright's run in the event.

Price is certainly someone who has grown and got better and better round by round in Blackpool and his resilience has been incredibly impressive.

I'm not entirely sure how Jose de Sousa was able to hold on for as long as he did in that one but again it was a test for Price and he said afterwards that he is learning to deal with frustrating situations a lot better as the tournament goes on.

I'm backing total 180s to be over 18.5 at 10/11 in this one, I think it could be a really close encounter, a proper tungsten tussle up on that Winter Gardens Stage.

If you do fancy Danny Noppert to come through this one, there is value in backing him at 29/20.