Ladbrokes Masters: Predictions for the Second Round

The First Round of the PDC Ladbrokes Masters 2022 took place on Friday the 28th of January, and those who were in attendance and those who watched on the TV were treated to some quality rounds of darts. We do not have to wait long for more entertainment since the Second Round will take place on Saturday the 29th of January at 13:00 GMT. There will be eight matches in total, and below you can find our prediction for each one.

First Round Results

Below you can see the results of the eight matches that made up the First Round.

Second Round Fixtures

The top eight ranked players in the PDC Order of Merit enter the competition in this round, and each match is the best of 19, or the first player to win 10 legs. Below you can see a list of the fixtures for this round:

Match Prediction for Jose De Sousa vs Rob Cross

Rob Cross took on Brendan Dolan in the first round and made pretty light work of him. His next opponent is Jose de Sousa, and we would be pretty surprised if Cross had such an easy match once again. The Portuguese player, who is nicknamed "The Special One" won the Grand Slam of Darts in 2020, but apart from a runner-up position in the Premier League Darts, his 2021 was a pretty lean one. He will be hoping that he can go deep in this competition, and we believe that he will go on to beat Cross in this match. The bookies have Cross as the favourite to win at odds of 1.80, but we like de Sousa's odds of 2.00.

Our Match Prediction: Jose de Sousa to win.

Match Prediction for Gary Anderson vs Joe Cullen

Joe Cullen made it into the round courtesy of a 6-2 win over Daryl Gurney, and now Gary Anderson stands in his way of a place in the Quarter-Finals. The Scot has won seven of his last ten and he has played Cullen on seven occasions and holds a 5-2 lead over him. The last time that the "Flying Scotsman" won a title was in 2020, so he will be desperate to set that right in this prestigious tournament. Cullen has never won a tournament though, and we think this will go against him, despite the fact that Betway has given both players odds of 1.90 to win.

Our match prediction: Gary Anderson to win.

Match Prediction for Michael Smith vs Krzysztof Ratajski

Krzysztof Ratajski played the first match of the tournament against Gabriel Clemens, and he just managed to come out on top 6-5. He had an average of 88.17 in that First Round match, and if he is to stand any chance of making it through to the Quarter-Finals, he is definitely going to have to up his game. Michael Smith has been victorious in seven of his last ten matches, and he has beat Ratajski seven times out of the nine times that they have played. Betway has Smith to win at odds of 1.33, and we would have to agree with them.

Our match prediction: Michael Smith to win.

Match Prediction for James Wade vs Dave Chisnall

Dave Chisnall played against Stephen Bunting in the First Round and thrashed him 6-0 - he probably was not expecting such an easy start to the PDC Ladbrokes Masters. Now he takes on James Wade in the Second Round and this is a very hard match to call, and Betway agrees with us here since both players have odds of 1.91 to win. Wade has won seven of his last ten matches and his record against Chisnall stands at 7 wins each. We think Chisnall will come out on top here because he has already had some valuable practice in the First Round.

Our match prediction: Dave Chisnall to win.

Match Prediction for Jonny Clayton vs Dimitri van den Bergh

Dimitri van den Bergh took on Ian White in the First Round and had a comfortable ride, coming out on top 6-1. He will now take on Jonny Clayton for a spot in the Quarter-Finals, and he will have to be at the top of his game if he is to be victorious. Clayton had a really good 2021, winning the World Grand Prix, the Premier League Darts, the World Series of Darts Finals, and The Masters. The Belgian actually has a 4-3 lead over Clayton in head-to-head matches, but we see the Welshman winning here.

Our match prediction: Jonny Clayton to win.

Match Prediction for Gerwyn Price vs Ryan Searle

Ryan Searle is in the Second Round courtesy of a 6-1 win against Mervyn King in the First Round. If he wants to be playing in the Quarter-Finals on Sunday, then he is going to have to get past Gerwyn Price, who had a pretty decent 2021 thanks to wins in the PDC World Championship and the Grand Slam of Darts. He also finished as the runner-up at the World Grand Prix and made it to the Semi-Finals of the UK Open, The Masters, and the PDC World Cup of Darts. Searle might have had an easy win against King, but we would be surprised if he managed to beat Price. The bookies have the Welshman as clear favourite to win, and we have to agree.

Our match prediction: Gerwyn Price to win.

Match Prediction for Peter Wright vs Simon Whitlock

Simon Whitlock was originally not meant to be participating in this competition, but he got called up when another player pulled out and he caused a bit of a shock by beating Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-2 in the First Round. Whitlock had an average of 100.34 in this match, which was the second highest average out of everyone - van den Bergh's 105.31 was the highest. His reward for making it through is a match against Peter Wright, who is in top form after having won the PDC World Championship earlier this year. Although he did well to make it past van Duijvenbode, we do not see him beating Wright and the Scot should make it 15-5 on the head-to-head scoreboard.

Our match prediction: Peter Wright to win.

Match Prediction for Michael van Gerwen vs Luke Humphries

Luke Humphries took on Devon Petersen in the opening round and beat him easily, which is what everyone would have expected if we are being totally honest. Next up for him is a match against Michael van Gerwen, who has not been in the best of form as of late. However, despite this, Betway still have van Gerwen at odds of 1.33 to win and Humphries at odds of 3.25, and we think these are fair odds and a good assumption of how this match is going to turn out. They have only played each

other three times, and van Gerwen leads the way 2-1, but we think the Dutchman will make it 3-1 on Saturday.

Our match prediction: Michael van Gerwen to win.