Impressive Gurney could be chinned by Suljovic in Blackpool

Quarter-finals
Sky Sports Action, 7pm Thursday

No wonder the man they call Superchin managed to take all of Gary Anderson’s best shots, but unconventional opponent Mensur Suljovic can floor the Northern Irishman in the last eight of the BetVictor World Matchplay.

Daryl Gurney was outstanding against Anderson, recovering from early blows from the Scotsman to land the knockout punch and run out an 11-9 winner.

It was a display which saw Gurney’s title odds tumble from 50-1 to 16-1 and earned him favouritism against Suljovic.

But the amiable Austrian was tipped to win his quarter before the competition started in Blackpool and there seems no obvious reason to want to desert him a game away from copping.

Yes, Gurney has shown his mettle in tight games against seeds Benito van de Pas and Anderson and he’s playing better than ever.

But Suljovic is ranked seventh in the world, in supreme form himself and is a seriously tough man to put down, especially over the longer format.

This looks a choice clash. They pair have met four times this year and the head-to-head record reads 2-2; their last three matches have gone to the deciding leg.

Suljovic, who has played in four semis since April, was rock solid against both John Henderson and Justin Pipe and is a fearless competitor. The bigger price about the Austrian definitely looks the value.

The night’s second quarter-final – these are best-of-31 legs incidentally – pits third seed Peter Wright against Darren Webster, and it should be the end of the road for the Demolition Man. Snakebite has won their last five meetings, including the two occasions they’ve played on stage, and was awesome averaging over 104 against Cristo Reyes in round two. Webster looks sure to struggle to live with that.

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