Diamond Wright Heads into the final Matchplay Weekend
Peter Wright has dazzled on the Winter Gardens stage this week with his latest Euro 11 element grip providing performance under pressure for Snakebite.
Next up for Peter is Michael Smith this evening in the Betfred World Matchplay quarter-finals, on the back of Wright posting the tournament high average of 105.46 in his 11 – 5 win over Joe Cullen.
Peter said “The element grip is perfect for me under the hot conditions at Blackpool, it’s a high-level feel and reacts fantastically in my hands. I think you can tell from my last game that I’ve really fallen in love with these darts again!”
Peter Wright opened the first session of his World Matchplay showdown with Joe Cullen impressively. His latest titanium nitride coated Euro 11’s was equipped with DRX aluminium shafts and slim Hardcore flights, as he led 3-0 with strong scoring.
Cullen managed to battle back and reduce the deficit to 3-2 as the players both headed into the break, with Peter looking slightly frustrated with some of his darts at the tail end of the fifth leg.
This switch to the slightly heavier aluminium shafts and slim flights, which have reduced drag through their flight, produced the effect of the angle of entry for darts sitting flatter in the dartboard for Peter.
Snakebite said “After the first session, I wanted to tinker ever so slightly the angle of entry and not have such a flat throw into the board, it gives me the feeling that I can place the darts into the dartboard more.
“It was working well but I felt the angle had gone just that little bit too flat. There are so many factors to take into account, obviously it’s scorching hot in Blackpool at the moment and with how my arm was feeling I just wasn’t 100% satisfied
“When I saw Joe coming back at the end of the first session, it felt natural for me to switch back to my more familiar carbon fibre stems and standard flights for that added stability through the air... and it definitely worked.”
Ever the master tinkerer, will Peter stick with the winning Euro 11 formula? We can’t give a definite answer. What we do know is they were fantastic for him under pressure in the last round and we wish Peter all the best for the rest of the tournament.
The quarter-finals conclude tonight with the remaining two ties on a huge night of action, as Peter Wright plays Michael Smith before Michael van Gerwen takes on Nathan Aspinall.
The action will be broadcast live on Sky Sports in the UK, through the PDC's worldwide broadcast partners including DAZN and RTL7, and on PDCTV for Rest of the World Subscribers.
2021 Betfred World Matchplay
Thursday July 22
Quarter-Finals
Krzysztof Ratajski 16-8 Callan Rydz
Dimitri Van den Bergh 16-9 Gerwyn Price
Friday July 23
Quarter-Finals
Peter Wright v Michael Smith
Michael van Gerwen v Nathan Aspinall
Best of 31 legs