Ladbrokes Masters: Predictions for the Quarter-Finals

We have now reached the Quarter-Finals stage of the 2022 PDC Ladbrokes Masters, and anyone who has not been thoroughly entertained by the action that has been on offer is not a true darts fan. We are now reaching the business end of the competition, and the last remaining eight players will battle it out for a spot in the semi-finals on the 30th of January at 13:00. Below we have given you our predictions for each quarter final match, should you be thinking about betting on the winner of each one.

Second Round Results

In the table below you can find the results of the eight fascinating matches that made up the Second Round. These matches were the best of 19, or the first player to reach 10 legs.

Quarter-Final Fixtures

The Second Round was the best of 19 legs, and so is the Quarter-Final stage. Therefore, the first player to win ten legs in their match will advance to the Semi-Finals. Below you can see the fixtures for this stage of the competition:

Match Prediction for Dave Chisnall vs Michael Smith

Dave Chisnall made it to this stage of the tournament with a scintillating 10-4 win against James Wade in the Second Round to back up his 6-0 drubbing of Stephen Bunting in the First Round. Next up for the St. Helens is a match against Michael Smith, who also happens to hail from St. Helens.

Smith was one of the top eight ranked players in the PDC Order of Merit, so he did not have to play in the First Round. He took on Krzysztof Ratajski in the Second Round and beat the Pole 10-6 - this suggest a pretty comfortable win for Smith, but it was far from it. Up until the latter stages of the game, it really could have gone anywhere.

This should be a cracking game of darts as both of these players have been scoring heavily. Chisnall scored no fewer than nine 180s in his match against Wade and finished with an average of 100.19, while Smith had an average of 105.49 in his match against Ratajski. If they both play like this against each other in their Quarter-Final match, then it will surely be edge of your seat stuff.

Chisnall and Smith have played each other seven times, and Smith leads the way on the head-to-head record with five wins to Chisnall's two. Who do the bookmakers think will come out on top this time around? Well, Betway has Smith as the favourite with odds of 1.53, while they have priced Chisnall at odds of 2.50. After his performance against Wade, we think that is a bit harsh on Chisnall, but we do agree with them that Smith should start as the favourite. We think he will go on to edge a pretty close and high-scoring match.

Our match prediction: Michael Smith to Win.

Match Prediction for Gerwyn Price vs Jonny Clayton

The second match of the Quarter-Finals will be an all-Welsh fixture against Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton. Price is ranked as the number one player in the world, and he had a really good 2021 by winning the PDC World Championship and the Grand Slam of Darts. Clayton, on the other hand, is ranked 8th in the world and he had an even better 2021 than his compatriot by winning the World Grand prix, World Series of Darts, Premier League Darts, and The Masters. Thus, between them, they won an impressive six titles in 2021.

Clayton had a really tough Second Round match against Dimitri van den Bergh, coming out on top 10-9. This was probably the most exciting tournament of the competition so far, and it really could have gone either way in the end. While van den Bergh will be disappointed that he is out, he can still be proud of the performance that he put in during this game. This tough battle will do Clayton the world of good because this will be another tough match for him.

Price also did not have it all his own way in his Second Round match against Ryan Searle, winning 10-8 in the end. He finished the match with an average of 95.38, which he will not be too pleased with. He will know that if he is going to beat Clayton, then he will have to improve that average because his opponent had an average that was a shade over 100.

These two Welshman have played each other on 12 occasions, and the head-to-head score currently stands at six apiece. This is bound to be a close match, but Betway has Clayton as the slight favourite to make it to the Semi-Finals. Having watched both of them play in the Second Round, we like the Clayton's chances of progressing to the next round.

Our match pediction: Jonny Clayton to win.

Match Prediction for Peter Whitlock vs Jose de Sousa

José de Sousa made it to the Quarter-Finals with a 10-7 victory against Rob Cross, and the man that stands in his way of a spot in the next round is Peter Whitlock, who stunned everyone by beating Peter Whitlock 10-8. We are pretty sure that the bookies were happy with this result as there would have been plenty of darts betting fans who put their money on Wright to win the match or the whole tournament.

The Portuguese player has a bit of an unwanted reputation of being poor at mathematics, but it was him who benefited from a mathematical error by Cross this time. Cross came to the board needing a double four for a 6-4 lead, but instead he went for double eight instead and got no score. The Special One stepped up, scored the double to make it 5-5, and then won five of the next seven legs to book his place in the Quarter-Finals.

Whitlock was tasked with the unenviable task of taking on Peter Wright, fresh from his victory in the PDC World Championship, but the Australian, despite not being at his best as was seen by his average of 93.02, went 9-6 ahead. Wright managed to claw a couple of legs back as it looked like the Australian was suffering under the pressure of being so close to such a big win, but he held his nerve and claimed the match. He will know that he will have to throw better in the Quarter-Finals if he is going to progress deeper into this tournament.

Whitlock and de Sousa have only played each other once, and the man from Portugal won that match. When it comes to predicting who will win this match, it is not easy to predict as both players are pretty equal in our opinion. If any of them has an edge, it is de Sousa, so we will put our money on him to win.

Our match prediction: Jose de Sousa to win.

Match Prediction for Michael van Gerwen vs Joe Cullen

Joe Cullen made it into the Quarter-Finals with perhaps the best performance of anyone in the Second Round, dispatching Scotland's Gary Anderson 10-1. The Scotsman did not play particularly bad, but Cullen was on fire as is shown by his average of 106.30 - the highest average in the tournament to date. Now, he will take on Michael van Gerwen, who made it through a last leg decided to get to this stage.

Anyone who follows darts closely will know how good Cullen is, but nobody would have expected him to beat Anderson so easily. In fact, that was another match that probably won the sports betting sites a nice sum of money. If he plays like that against van Gerwen, who made many mistakes against Luke Humphries in Second Rounds, then he will be quietly confident of being able to get one over on one of the game's great players.

These two players have played each other on 14 occasions, and the Dutchman leads the way with ten wins to Cullen's four. The bookies also have van Gerwen as favourite to win, with Betway giving him odds of 1.44, while Cullen has odds of 2.75 to make it to the Semi-Finals. These odds are based on reputation alone, and taking the way that both have played in this competition to date, we like the chances of the underdog coming out on top.

Our match prediction: Joe Cullen to win.