Dancing Dimitri van den Bergh expected to have a ball

Sky Sports Action, 7pm Friday

Dimitri van den Bergh hit a sensational nine-dart finish in his last-16 Grand Slam of Darts contest against Stephen Bunting and the Dreammaker looks ready to give Mensur Suljovic nightmares.

Bunting missed plenty of doubles in that contest but Van den Bergh didn't pass up the opportunity and was a convincing 10-6 winner.

The signs were there too in previous matches.

The Dreammaker hit a 95.67 three-dart average in a 5-3 win over Ryan Searle in the group stage and hammered Mark McGeeney 5-1, averaging 98.9. Rob Cross got the better of the Belgian 5-4, but the Antwerp arrow­smith averaged 100.11 in that contest and can be considered an unlucky loser.

Things had been a bit quiet for Van den Bergh in terms of TV tournaments, but there should be no doubt that he can perform against Suljovic – that was evident in his superb run to the last eight of the PDC World Championship.

Suljovic is not readily opposed given his quality finishing, but he was fortunate to get out of a group featuring Scott Mitchell, Martin Schindler and Bunting in which he managed just a solitary victory against Scotty Dog.

The Austrian's win over Cross in the last 16 reads well but Voltage hasn't produced anything like his World Championship form since his Ally Pally triumph.

At 13-8 back Dancing Dimitri to get the party started.

The layers can't separate Simon Whitlock and Gerwyn Price and over this best-of-31-leg format there is unlikely to be much between them. Whitlock came out a 5-4 winner in their group-stage clash but the prices look spot-on.

Recommendation
D van den Bergh
2pts 13-8 Betfred

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