Swiss Darts Trophy: Prediction, Tips and Odds

The European Tour continues this weekend with the Swiss Darts Trophy from Basel and world champion Luke Humphries is in attendance at the St. Jakobshalle, chasing the £30,000 first prize.

The action starts on Friday afternoon with 16 first-round matches, then there are eight second-round contests on Saturday, before a blockbuster Sunday comprising the third round, quarter-finals, semis and final.

Michael van Gerwen, who has been suffering with illness, was a late withdrawal, with Luke Littler, who won the World Series of Darts Finals in Amsterdam earlier this month, 3/1 favourite for the title.

Littler, the reigning Premier League champion, may be fretting about his draw for the Basel gathering.

Humphries and Littler are due to meet in the third round if they both get that far, with the latter, runner-up in the last World Championship, having already won two European Tour events this year - the Austrian Darts Open and the Belgian Darts Open.

Dave Chisnall each-way - 16/1

Dave Chisnall won the latest Players Championship event in Leicester on Wednesday, defeating Chris Dobey 8-4 in the final, so Chizzy arrives in Switzerland full of form and confidence.

Chisnall moved up to fifth in the world rankings after his latest victory and the St Helens man is No. 1 seed for the Swiss Darts Trophy.

That status is due to how incredible he has been on the European Tour. He has already won the European Darts Open and the Flanders Darts Trophy this year.

The 44-year-old appears at the peak of his powers and is approaching a busy stretch of TV tournaments as one of the leading title contenders.

The Lukes - Littler and Humphries - are housed in the opposite side of the draw to Chisnall in Basel, so each-way punters (half the odds for the final) will be sniffing around the popular Liverpool fan. 

Damon Heta each-way - 22/1

It seems entirely feasible that Chisnall's quarter-final opponent in the Swiss Darts Trophy will be Damon Heta.

The Australian played well in the midweek Players Championships, being defeated in a final-leg decider on Wednesday and can take advantage of a kind draw.

Heta probably has to beat Madars Razma and Ryan Searle to set up a potential quarter-final meeting with Chisnall, so punters backing both Chisnall and Heta each-way can have high hopes of getting somebody into the semi-finals.

With Nathan Aspinall still working his way back to form after shoulder problems, the first quarter of the Swiss Darts Trophy draw looks at the mercy of Chisnall and Heta.

Searle and Daryl Gurney are perhaps the biggest obstacles to a Chisnall-Heta quarter-final.

Ross Smith each-way - 22/1

The bottom half of the draw is loaded with quality, but Ross Smith has the firepower to emerge successfully from it and make the final.

Smith will have been relieved to see Van Gerwen withdraw from the event, because they were on course to meet in round three.

Instead, Smith looks set to face a much more straightforward third-round contest. Ricardo Pietreczko, who has been struggling with injury of late, is the highest seed Smith could face in round three.

From the quarter-finals onwards, life should get tougher for Smith, but this 180s machine is well capable of reaching the last-eight.

The draw means only one of Littler and Humphries can get that deep into the competition and an all-English Chisnall v Smith final seems a possibility.

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This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.