World Matchplay 2026 Day 2: Anderson Rolls Back the Years, Dobey Blows Nine Match Darts

World Matchplay Day 2 Results — Sunday 19 July

Vintage Anderson Demolishes Joyce

The performance of the day — and arguably of the tournament so far — belonged to Gary Anderson. The two-time world champion dismantled Ryan Joyce 10-2 with a 109.96 average, breaking early with a double 14 and never letting go. At 55, the Flying Scotsman remains capable of the kind of scoring that once made him the best player on the planet, and on this evidence he will be a nightmare draw for anyone in the second round.

MvG Battles From 4-1 Down

Michael van Gerwen was given an early scare by Andrew Gilding, falling 4-1 behind before reeling off four straight legs to seize control. The three-time Matchplay champion eventually closed out a 10-6 win with a 180 and double 16 combination, averaging 94.85. It was far from vintage MvG, but after his 122-average ProTour win in May, the Dutchman keeps finding ways to win — which is often the more dangerous sign.

Dobey's Blackpool Nightmare

The story of the day, though, was the afternoon's tie-break epic. Chris Dobey, the 13th seed, missed nine match darts against Dirk van Duijvenbodebefore the Dutchman stole it 13-11 in overtime — the second match of the tournament to need extra legs after Stephen Bunting's 13-12 sudden-death win on Saturday. Dobey out-averaged his opponent 97.35 to 92.78 and still went home. Under the Matchplay's two-clear-legs rule, that is the cruellest way to lose, and Van Duijvenbode's 82 finish to seal it capped one of the great Winter Gardens escapes.

Clayton, Nijman and the Evening Session

Jonny Clayton looked every bit a contender in beating Damon Heta 10-7, closing with a 144 checkout. In the evening, Wessel Nijman impressed most with a 98.63 average in a 10-5 win over Dave Chisnall, while James Wade — a two-time winner of this event — saw off Jermaine Wattimena 10-7.

Gian van Veen, the third seed and world number three, beat Krzysztof Ratajski 10-6 despite being out-averaged, and Ryan Searle did the same to William O'Connor— winning 10-6 with a 94.98 average to O'Connor's 95.18. Blackpool has never cared much for the stats sheet; it rewards whoever takes their doubles.

Day 1 Recap — Saturday 18 July

Saturday's opening night belonged to the world number one. Luke Littler opened his title defence bid with a 109.53 average against German qualifier Niko Springer, and Nathan Aspinall topped a ton-five in beating Joe Cullen. Josh Rock eased past Luke Woodhouse — the man who won two PDC titles in 12 days back in May — while Stephen Bunting needed a sudden-death leg to escape Niels Zonneveld.

Upcoming Fixtures — Monday 20 July (Day 3)

The first round concludes on Monday evening with four more ties, headlined by world number two Luke Humphries against Scotland's Cameron Menzies. Gerwyn Price faces a dangerous Martin Schindler, and former champion Rob Cross — unseeded this year — takes on Danny Noppert in the pick of the night.

World Matchplay 2026: Tournament Information

The Betfred World Matchplay runs from 18–26 July at the Winter Gardens, Blackpool — the PDC's second-biggest ranking major behind the World Championship. The top 16 on the PDC Order of Merit are seeded and were drawn against 16 qualifiers from the ProTour Order of Merit — a system explained in our ProTour guide. You can follow the race for next year's qualification on our World Matchplay race rankings, and see what else is coming up this season on the 2026 darts calendar.

Format

• First round — best of 19 legs
• Second round — best of 21 legs
• Quarter-finals — best of 31 legs
• Semi-finals — best of 33 legs
• Final — best of 35 legs (Sunday 26 July)

Every match must be won by two clear legs. If the players cannot be separated after six extra legs, a sudden-death leg decides it — exactly how Bunting survived on Saturday and how Dobey perished on Sunday.

Prize Money

Every penny counts double here: Matchplay prize money feeds straight into the two-year rolling Order of Merit, so a deep run this week can reshape the world rankings heading into the autumn majors.

Where to Watch the World Matchplay 2026

• UK & Ireland — every session live on Sky Sports, with streaming via Sky Go and NOW.
• International — PDCTV streams every match live for Rest of the World subscribers, with local broadcast partners including DAZN and Viaplay covering selected territories.
• Sessions — afternoon sessions begin at 1:00pm BST, evening sessions at 7:00pm BST.

Want the bigger picture while you watch? Keep our live PDC Order of Merit open to see what every result means for the rankings, or compare tonight's headliners head-to-head: Humphries vs Menzies · Price vs Schindler · Noppert vs Cross.