You can only hope that Cameron Menzies has not suffered a serious illness after he was forced to withdraw from his Second Round match after just three Legs had been completed.
He looked fine after taking the lead with a winning double in the third Leg, but suddenly had a bout of dizziness on the stage and it was soon announced that Menzies was not going to be able to continue.
Ross Smith moves through, but the thoughts of all of the peers would have been with Cameron Menzies who had produced a big win in the First Round and who has been in decent form over the last few weeks as he finally looked to be fulfilling some of the potential.
The show had to go on at the World Matchplay and the Quarter Final line up has been set.
The top half of the draw will be in action on Thursday with the format now expanded to a best of thirty-one contest and that also means a slightly later start to the session. It will then be the turn of the bottom half on Friday before the Semi Final and Final is completed over the course of the weekend.
After this weekend is completed, the PDC Tour moves into a slight hiatus- there are two Players Championship events to be played next week, but then the World Series takes over with back to back Masters events Down Under in Australia and New Zealand in consecutive weeks.
Once again a couple of Players Championship tournaments will be played before the next European Tour event at the Hungarian Darts Trophy at the end of August.
It should mean all eight players left in the World Matchplay can be completely focused on the task in front of them and that is winning one of the big Majors on the Tour and we should have a decent four days of Darts left in Blackpool.
Gary Anderson - 2.5 legs v Dirk van Duijvenbode: All credit has to be given to Dirk van Duijvenbode for the way he handled the pressure as Michael van Gerwen pushed him into extra Legs for a second match in a row.
Once again Dirk van Duijvenbode found a way, much as he did in the First Round against Chris Dobey, and this is a player who has found plenty of heavy scoring.
This makes him dangerous, while van Duijvenbode is also hitting his doubles at a decent rate.
However, Dirk van Duijvenbode will be aware that he may need to be even better if he is going to upset Gary Anderson who has been far too good for Ryan Joyce and Jonny Clayton.
Gary Anderson has not been at his absolute best, but he has been piling up big scores and has looked very comfortable when it comes to finishing off Legs and The Flying Scotsman remains a very strong player. The question is how will his darts hold up the longer he has to stay on the stage and this is a best of thirty-one Quarter Final, but Anderson has not had as many dips as Dirk van Duijvenbode and that can ultimately make the difference in the match.
When they met at the UK Open, Gary Anderson was a little too strong for Dirk van Duijvenbode and that may be the case when they meet in Blackpool in a big Quarter Final.
Luke Littler over 11.5 180s v Josh Rock: The layers are not anticipating a lot of resistance from Josh Rock in this World Matchplay Quarter Final, but that does feel like it is a little harsh on the Northern Irishman.
He has not hit the heights of 2025, but Josh Rock has given Luke Littler something to think about in meetings in 2026 and that has to give him some encouragment.
Of course it should be stated that not many are going to be able to live with the standards Luke Littler has produced in the first two Rounds as he looks to defend the title won last year. Nathan Aspinall averaged over 100 and yet it never felt like he was going to beat Luke Littler, who averaged over 113 to follow up his First Round 109+ average.
The World Number 1 can blitz past any opponent that stands in front of him and there is the feeling that there will be at least one session that ends in a whitewash and Luke Littler should be good enough to move into the Semi Final again.
That means getting to at least sixteen Legs and Luke Littler has been absolutely spot on his rhythm when it comes to attacking the treble 20- backing that up is the fact he hit one nine darter and missed a double for a second in his Second Round win.
Luke Littler has won twenty-one Legs in this tournament and he has thrown twenty-one maximums, while he had nine in twenty Legs when these two met at the UK Open earlier this year.
The top Seed has looked so much more comfortable here though and Littler can produce at least twelve maximums in this Quarter Final contest.
MY PICKS: Gary Anderson - 2.5 Legs @ 1.72 Bet Fred (1 Unit)
Luke Littler Over 11.5 180s @ 2.10 Sky Bet (1 Unit)
World Matchplay: 9-12, - 1.90 Units (21 Units Staked, - 9.05% Yield)
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