Darts Betting Tips: The Machine to progress in to Semis

Friday at the World Grand Prix Darts sees us enter the quarter final stage. Betfred Insights' Darts expert, Sean Rafferty, is on hand to deliver his predictions including a double that he likes the look of.

Read below for Sean's Darts betting tips for the quarter finals of the World Grand Prix Darts 2024.

James Wade to beat Mike de Decker @ 4/5

De Decker is breaking new ground in his career, as he’s reached his first ever major QF. 'The Real Deal' brushed aside Gary Anderson 3-0, despite being the underdog. His 95.74 average was the highest of the second round, hitting 60% on his doubles, as he continues to bank successfully on D16 getting him in at the start of legs.

Wade breezed past his good friend Gerwyn Price in straight sets also, with a solid 90 average. 'The Machine' got in on double within the first visit of the leg in 12 of the 13 legs played - this is a crucial stat, as it means he’s almost never letting his opponent get a head start in the scoring phase of legs.

James is no stranger to this stage of a major, unlike his opponent. The occasion is far less likely to get to him, his doubles will always be solid and his scoring has actually been a bit stronger recently. Mike spoke to the press after yesterday’s win and still sounds like he has no ambitions to win the title and is just content with going this far in the event. He may be playing the situation down but I do think self belief is lacking a bit and Wade will have more faith in himself to reach the semis.

They’ve met once before in front of a crowd, with Wadey running out a 6-3 winner in that clash in April on the Euro Tour. De Decker’s looked superb so far but I think he’ll be put under the cosh a lot more by Wade and it’ll be interesting to see how he responds to that. This could be a tight one but I think experience will tell and The Machine will get over the line, he’s been priced up pretty generously at 4/5 in my opinion.

Over 3.5 Sets in Rob Cross/Ryan Joyce @ 2/5

This match could well be another tightly contested one. Joyce came through a very tense battle against Nathan Aspinall, running out a 3-2 winner, courtesy of a deciding leg, surviving three match darts in the process.

He looked a bit nervy at times trying to see that victory out, busting his score on a few occasions but eventually he held it together to get over the line. 51% starting doubles and 46% finishing doubles is very strong and not surprising from Joyce, who’s pretty lethal on D16/8. Cross continues to play down his chances in this event, despite a comfortable 3-1 win over Martin Schindler in the end. He must be starting to build some belief that he can finally conquer this event though, incredibly this is his first ever WGP QF.

I think Cross’ superior scoring and experience in these majors should be enough to get him over the line eventually but I just can’t see him getting it done in straight sets. Cross does hold a strong record over Joyce, winning their last six meetings, the last few of those being by an emphatic scoreline.

However, this double in format totally changes the outlook on this fixture and plays into Joyce’s hands a fair bit. Doubles are his strength - statistically, Relentless is the best doubles hitter in the world over the past 12 months and by a considerable distance at 44.95%.

He’s always going to give himself the opportunity to be in the thick of it most legs, so it’s hard to see him not getting a set at least on the board. Over 3.5 sets looks a safe selection at 2/5 as I wouldn’t like to predict the winner.

The  double is price at  6/4, which you can load directly to betslip below.

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