Saturday, July 25, 2026
Column CM164
World Matchplay 2026 – Round Two
Unlike the first round, the second round offered a few more surprises. It was played over two evenings, with four matches each, featuring thirteen seeded and three unseeded players.
I spent the first evening at home but attended the second in person. There is a real difference when you are right in the thick of it, and the atmosphere on-site is a crucial part of the experience in any sport.
In the first second round match, Jonny Clayton and Gary Anderson stepped up to the oche – both having impressed in the opening round. After Clayton went into the first break with a 4-1 lead, the match turned completely around, and Anderson dominated. To the crowd’s delight, he won 11-7 and fully deserved his spot in the quarterfinals.
Next came an all-Dutch clash between Michael van Gerwen – who won the World Matchplay three times during his prime – and Dirk van Duijvenbode, one of the remaining unseeded players. It was a hard-fought, thrilling match that went into a tie-break- already the second tie-break match for van Duijvenbode. 
He led for most of the game and, somewhat surprisingly, managed to withstand the pressure applied by his strong-playing compatriot in the closing stages, advancing into his only second quarter-final in this tournament.
The third Last 16 match pitted two players against each other who had delivered outstanding performances in the first round: Luke Littler and Nathan Aspinall. Littler threw a nine-darter in the very first leg. Despite a strong showing from Aspinall – who hit a 170 checkout during the match and never gave up – the outcome was effectively decided right then and there.
The final match of the evening lacked real drama, largely because Stephen Bunting put in a poor performance against Josh Rock. 
Rock, who was only playing at an average level himself, was never truly under threat. The fact that the two players are good friends may have played a role, making the situation somewhat difficult for Rock as well. Rock won 11-6.
On the second night of the second round, only three matches actually took place. Cameron Menzies suddenly suffered severe blood pressure issues during the fourth leg of the opening match against Ross Smith. Nearly unconscious, he had to be helped off the stage by the callers, the referee, and Smith. Although he reportedly recovered relatively quickly and was able to return to his accommodation, he did not come back on stage. The scenes live and broadcast on television were distressing, and fortunately, such incidents are extremely rare in darts. Let us hope that Menzies – who had started in the tournament so well – makes a speedy recovery.
I do not know to what extent the other players that evening were affected by the incident. In any case, the schedule – which also concerned them – was disrupted, and the two Dutch players, Gian van Veen and Wessel Nijman, who contested in the second match, had to take the stage earlier than expected.
Their performance showed no signs of this – it was a very intense back-and-forth battle – and van Veen initially had the match completely under control. However, Nijman fought back to level the score on several occasions. 
When the match went into a tie-break, the outcome was far from certain. van Veen held his nerve impressively to reach the quarter-finals, just as he had last year and he will once again face the same opponent there: James Wade.
The penultimate match of the second round gave everyone a chance to settle down again. For some reason, Rob Cross never really found his rhythm against Gerwyn Price – his best spell came before the first break, when he took a 3-2 lead. 
After that, he didn’t offer much resistance; it didn’t even look like he was trying to fight back. Price won effortlessly, 11-5.
The final match of the second round was also a fairly intense affair, even if it didn’t quite feel that way due to the rather deliberate throwing pace of both James Wade and Ryan Searle. Wade never fell behind during the match, yet he played in a calculated, energy-conserving manner – or at least that is how it appeared. He played a few strong legs to take the lead, then went through a quiet spell until Searle closed the gap and even leveled the score. This pattern repeated itself several times, with Wade ultimately winning 11-8 and averaging just under 100.
That brought the second round to a close. Dirk van Duijvenbode remained in the tournament – the last of the three unseeded players who had reached this stage. Cameron Menzies had suffered a dramatic, unwanted exit, while Rob Cross had bowed out with a surprisingly indifferent performance.
