Preview 2026 PDC World Darts Championship Thursday Evening: The Queen of the Palace returns with Michael van Gerwen headlining

A star-packed Thursday night session awaits at the PDC World Darts Championship tonight with the likes of Fallon Sherrock and Michael van Gerwen in action.

Jermaine Wattimena is up in the opening match of the night. For “The Machine Gun,” the tournament begins with a clash against Dominik Gruellich. After that, Fallon Sherrock will make her entrance against Dave Chisnall, looking to set Ally Pally alight once again. Van Gerwen plays the third match of the evening session against Mitsuhiko Tatsunami. At the end of the session it’s time for a showdown between Krzysztof Ratajski and Alexis Toylo.

Jermaine Wattimena is making his twelfth appearance at the World Darts Championship this year, and does so after what seems to be the best season of his career. For the first time, “The Machine Gun” has secured a place in the world’s top 20. Last year Wattimena impressed with a European Championship final, and he consistently posted strong results. A fine highlight on TV was reaching the last four at the Players Championship Finals in late November, but perhaps more memorable for him was winning his first two Players Championship tournaments. He also delivered regularly on the Euro Tour, including two quarterfinals. For the first time, Wattimena will be expected to make it through the first two rounds at Alexandra Palace.

Dominik Gruellich debuted this season as a Tour Card holder and did a solid job. In April, Gruellich surprisingly reached the final at Players Championship 14 and, thanks to the prize money earned there, the German qualified for the World Darts Championship via the Pro Tour by the narrowest of margins. This won’t just be Gruellich’s first match on the World Championship stage, it’s also the first time he will face Wattimena.

It’s already six years since Fallon Sherrock made her historic World Championship appearance. The Englishwoman was dubbed the “Queen of the Palace” after she first stunned Ted Evetts and then sent Mensur Suljovic packing. In the five years since, she played the World Darts Championship four more times, but without success. She has increasingly drifted out of the spotlight, with Beau Greaves now commanding attention in the women’s game. Earlier this year Sherrock did reach the final at the Women’s World Matchplay, but the title went to Lisa Ashton.

Dave Chisnall surely won’t have been thrilled with his World Championship draw. “Chizzy” is not known for keeping his nerves fully in check, and he now faces one of the women in the field. He also won’t be traveling to Ally Pally with much confidence, as Chisnall has endured a very poor year. He claimed multiple PDC titles in each of the previous three seasons, but this time the tally stalled disappointingly at zero. The Englishman also rarely reached the business end of events, making only one final on the Players Championship circuit. It meant Chisnall missed out for the first time in his career on qualifying for the World Grand Prix and he wasn’t at the Grand Slam of Darts either. He also underperformed at the majors where he did appear. His last major quarterfinal dates back almost two years.

How is Michael van Gerwen shaping up? That’s the big question ahead of this match, as it’s been a while since we last saw “Mighty Mike” in action. The Vlijmen native missed the Players Championship Finals for the first time since his move to the PDC, traditionally the final event before the World Darts Championship. That was because Van Gerwen hadn’t earned enough prize money on the floor events to qualify. It didn’t help that Van Gerwen skipped many floor tournaments. Last year, Van Gerwen made a somewhat surprising run to the World Championship final, where he ultimately had to bow to Luke Littler. There was no shame in that, but “MVG” has now lost his last three World Championship finals and remains stuck on three world titles for the time being.

With Mitsuhiko Tatsunami as his opponent, Van Gerwen should at least start his route toward a possible fourth world title with a comfortable win. The Japanese player has little experience on the big stage and finished fourteenth on the Asian Tour Order of Merit. Not nearly enough for Worlds qualification, but through the Japanese qualifier Tatsunami still managed to secure a World Championship ticket. It will undoubtedly be an experience the Japanese player will never forget.

Alexis Toylo versus Krzysztof Ratajski is a match we have seen before at the World Darts Championship. That was last year, although they met in the second round then. It was Ratajski who advanced with a 3-1 win.

After a disappointing 2024, Ratajski was more prominent again this season. He also picked up another Players Championship title, his tenth PDC ranking title. In the autumn, ‘The Polish Eagle’ impressed with a Euro Tour semi-final and reached the third round at the Players Championship Finals. In recent years, the Pole has been fairly steady at the Worlds; three times in a row the last 32.

This is going to be a long match anyway, because Toylo is known for not playing at a quick tempo. Toylo was the best player on the Asian Tour this season, with five titles in total. The Filipino was also invited to the Grand Slam of Darts recently, where a win over Stephen Bunting left him third in the group stage.