World Darts Championship Day 10 Tips: Cool Hand to Cruise through

• Humphries now 11/43.75 to successfully defend title

• Cool Hand to come through comfortably

• Wattimena to dump out another seed

With the likes of Rob Cross, Gary Anderson, Michael Smith and James Wade already eliminated, pre-tournament favourite Luke Littler is now 5/42.25 to go one step further than he did 12 months ago and get his hands on the Sid Waddell trophy, with reigning champion Luke Humphries available at 11/43.75.

Cool Hand to cruise through

Having not taken to the stage since the opening night of the tournament, Luke Humphries returns to action and having seen a number of rivals for the title fall by the wayside already, I imagine he'll be chomping at the bit.

He comfortably coasted past Thibault Tricole in his opener without needing to do anything special. Averaging 91, he didn't drop a leg and took care of everything without really exerting himself too much.

Nick Kenny came here with enormous pressure on his shoulders to win a couple of games, secure his tour card privileges for 2025 and avoid the uncertainty of returning to Q-School. As we've seen on the Euro Tour this year as well as in this tournament, the Welshman's big stage presence is certainly growing but despite him winning his opener with a stunning 170 finish and following that up by beating Raymond van Barneveld in the last round, I think this will be a step too far for the 31-year-old.

Cool Hand is such a heavy favourite there's no real value in backing him to come through this contest but I like the look of 11+ 180s & 1 Bull Finish in the match at 5/42.25.

Wattimena to win again

European Championship runner-up Jermaine Wattimena is in the form of his life. We saw him reach a couple of floor finals and the semi-final of the World Cup in 2019 but having made a few alterations to his throwing action and with a more confident and positive outlook on the game, he is now reaping the rewards. He's said himself that he's never felt better and looking ahead to his next match, he has every reason to be full of confidence.

He's up against a player he beat en route to his first major final in Peter Wright and even though Snakebite's finishing stats in his opener were pleasing, overall it was still a largely unconvincing and underwhelming display.

We often say that the format of this tournament allows the top players to play their way into form, but for Snakebite, there is absolutely no guarantee that that's going to happen. His match against Wesley Plaisier was the sixth successive game where he's averaged below 90 and based on recent form, I think his Dutch opponent is going to have too much for him in every department. He's hitting 180s with more regularity in 2024 and I'm backing him to win the match, hit more 180s and the highest finish of the contest at 11/43.75.

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