Schedule Sunday night at World Matchplay: Defending champion Van Gerwen starts tournament against Dolan

Four more matches await us Sunday night at the World Matchplay. Among others, defending champion Michael van Gerwen will make his appearance at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool.

Van Gerwen has had a successful period with final wins in Premier League Darts and at the World Series tournaments in New York and Warsaw. For a while there was uncertainty about his form after he underwent painful dental surgery between the two World Series tournaments, indicating that a lot of recovery time was needed.

Van Gerwen then proved that it need not affect his performance in Poland, where he grabbed overall victory in supreme fashion. With two averages above 110, he showed that only Van Gerwen is the big favorite for the title at the World Matchplay. The three-time tournament winner starts his tournament on Sunday night against Brendan Dolan.

The evening session kicks off with a meeting between Nathan Aspinall and Krzysztof Ratajski, one of the most interesting posters in the first round this year. Next, Luke Humphries faces Jose de Sousa.

At the end of the evening, Steve Beaton makes his return to the Winter Gardens. 'The Bronzed Adonis' missed the last two editions, but did qualify this year. However, the 1996 world champion faces a tough task in the first round, as he meets world champion and world number one Michael Smith.

The tournament will be broadcast in full on Sky Sports going between Action and Main Event.

From Saturday, July 15 through Wednesday, July 20, broadcasts will begin around 7 p.m. ET. In addition, on Sunday, July 16, there will be an afternoon session starting at 1 p.m. After the second round, the starting time of the evening sessions moves up one hour.

On Sunday afternoon, July 24, the second edition of the Women's World Matchplay is scheduled to begin at 1:00 pm. Here, eight ladies will compete for the title at the most important women's tournament in the PDC.

After the World Darts Championship, the World Matchplay is the ranking tournament with the largest prize pool at the PDC. A total of 800,000 pounds of prize money is up for grabs at this event.

All 32 participants are guaranteed £10,000 in prize money. This could eventually add up to a check of as much as £200,000 for the darter who gets to lift the Phil Taylor Trophy on Sunday, July 23.

Nathan Aspinall v Krzysztof Ratajski

Luke Humphries v Jose de Sousa

Michael van Gerwen v Brendan Dolan

Michael Smith v Steve Beaton