TAYLOR TO MEET NEWTON AS DUTCH DUO CLASH IN UNIBET MASTERS FIRST ROUND PHIL TAYLOR will begin his bid to retain The Unibet Masters title on Saturday November 1 against Wes Newton, while World Champion Michael van Gerwen faces a massive all-Dutch clash with Raymond van Barneveld at Edinburghs Royal Highland Centre. The second staging of the £160,000 tournament will see the worlds top 16 players do battle across two days, live on ITV4, on November 1-2. The opening day will feature the eight first round games split across two sessions at the Royal Highland Centre, with two of the events Scottish stars in action in the afternoon session on Saturday November 1. World Championship finalist Peter Wright, the current Scottish number one who was born in Lothian, will take on Justin Pipe in the tournaments opening fixture, before Ayrshires former UK Open champion Robert Thornton meets Premier League star Dave Chisnall. The afternoons third game sees Australian number one Simon Whitlock take on Mervyn King - a European Tour winner in September - before two-time World Champion Adrian Lewis, last years Masters runner-up, faces leading Belgian Kim Huybrechts. The evening session kicks off as in-form James Wade, who reached the World Grand Prix final recently and won a Players Championship on Saturday, takes on Northern Irelands Brendan Dolan. Reigning champion Phil Taylor, the 16-time World Champion, will then meet two-time major finalist Wes Newton before the eagerly-awaited all-Dutch meeting between World Champion Michael van Gerwen and Premier League Darts champion Raymond van Barneveld. Scottish star Gary Anderson, the former Premier League champion who has won six ranking titles during 2014, then takes to the stage for the final first round game, as he meets 2012 World Championship finalist Andy Hamilton. Weve thrown up some very special games for darts fans during this event, said PDC Chairman Barry Hearn. This event is the best versus the best - the top 16 in the world - and its an event not to be missed. World number one Michael van Gerwen, who won the World Grand Prix earlier in October, is the 9/4 pre-tournament favourite with sponsors Unibet, with Phil Taylor 11/4 to claim back-to-back Unibet Masters titles in Edinburgh. James Wades resurgence in recent months sees him rated as 8/1 joint third favourite alongside in-form Gary Anderson, with last years runner-up Adrian Lewis 9/1 to go one better next month. Schedule of Play Saturday November 1 Afternoon Session (12.45pm-5pm) First Round x4 Peter Wright v Justin Pipe Dave Chisnall v Robert Thornton Simon Whitlock v Mervyn King Adrian Lewis v Kim Huybrechts Evening Session (7pm-11pm) First Round x4 James Wade v Brendan Dolan Phil Taylor v Wes Newton Michael van Gerwen v Raymond van Barneveld Gary Anderson v Andy Hamilton Sunday November 2 Afternoon Session (12.45pm-5pm) Quarter-Finals Whitlock/King v Wright/Pipe Wade/Dolan v Lewis/Huybrechts Taylor/Newton v Anderson/Hamilton van Gerwen/van Barneveld v Chisnall/Thornton Evening Session (7pm-11pm) Semi-Finals Final Format First Round - Best of 19 legs Quarter-Finals - Best of 19 legs Semi-Finals - Best of 21 legs Final - Best of 21 legs * NB - Format amended October 26 2014 Qualified Players 1 Michael van Gerwen - World Champion & two-time World Grand Prix winner 2 Phil Taylor - Reigning Unibet Masters champion & 16-time World Champion 3 Adrian Lewis - two-time World Champion & 2014 UK Open winner 4 Peter Wright - 2014 World Championship finalist 5 Simon Whitlock - 2012 European Champion 6 James Wade - Two-time World Grand Prix & UK Open champion 7 Gary Anderson - Former Premier League Darts champion 8 Dave Chisnall - 2013 World Grand Prix finalist 9 Robert Thornton - 2012 UK Open champion 10 Andy Hamilton - Three-time major finalist & three-time ranking event winner 11 Brendan Dolan - 2011 World Grand Prix finalist & five time ranking event winner 12 Mervyn King - Former World Masters & International Darts League winner 13 Justin Pipe - Six-time PDC ranking event winner 14 Kim Huybrechts - 2012 Players Championship Finals runner-up 15 Wes Newton - Two-time major finalist & eight-time ranking event winner 16 Raymond van Barneveld - Reigning Premier League champion & five-time World Champion.
Posted on: Wed, 29 Oct 2014 02:20:51 +0000