Schedule Saturday afternoon at 2025 World Darts Championship: First round comes to a close before Brendan Dolan and Chris Dobey begin campaigns

We have already reached the final session of the first round at the 2025 PDC World Darts Championship. The final two spots in the second round are up for grabs on Saturday afternoon before seeds Brendan Dolan and Chris Dobey get their respective campaigns underway.

The first two matches of the afternoon involve duels from the first round. The afternoon session will conclude with two matches from the second round. The winner of these matches may return after the Christmas break for the third round of the World Darts Championship.

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Karel Sedlacek v Rhys Griffin (R1)

Karel Sedlacek has maintained his remarkable run at the World Darts Championship. Since his debut at the 2019 edition, he has been there every second year at Alexandra Palace. So his last appearance was at the 2023 edition. Then he won over Raymond Smith in the first round before losing to Dirk van Duijvenbode after a thriller. The Czech had a fairly solid year on the Pro Tour in which he managed to reach at least the last sixteen five times, his best result being a semifinal at Players Championship 16.

His opponent Rhys Griffin has never been on the World Darts Championship stage. The Welshman had a quiet year on the Pro Tour and did not come close to qualifying spots. One of Griffin's few good days though, was at the last chance qualifying tournament for Tour Card holders, where he won one of three tickets to the Alexandra Palace. Sedlacek and Griffin faced each other twice in the past. Both encounters were won by Sedlacek.

Richard Veenstra v Alexis Toylo (R1)

The last Dutchman in action in the first round is Richard Veenstra. He made his debut at Alexandra Palace last year and then cleverly made it to the third round by flooring Kim Huybrechts, among others, 3-0 in sets. He was then stumped by a sublime Michael van Gerwen. Veenstra managed to qualify for no less than six Euro Tours this year, allowing him to smuggle in a considerable amount of prize money. In the floor tournaments Veenstra made it to at least the third round in no less than ten of the thirty tournaments, which is a solid result for someone who is 47th in the world rankings.

The Asians are performing quite well at this World Championship, and then the best Asian is yet to come. Alexis Toylo was by a wide margin the best player on the Asian Tour in 2024. The Filipino dart player made as many as eight finals, five of which he won. Earlier this year Toylo got a taste of working on the big stage, because together with compatriot Lourence Ilagan he appeared on behalf of the Philippines at the World Cup of Darts. The World Darts Championship though, will be Toylo's debut at an individual major.

Richard Veenstra reached the third round on debut last year

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Brendan Dolan v Lok Yin Lee (R2)

After Toylo we immediately get to see another Asian, but this one, already in the second round. Lok Yin Lee managed to beat Chris Landman handsomely in the opening round. The average of 84.40 was nothing special, but the darter from Hong Kong showed he can finish well with a finishing percentage of 46 percent. 

Brendan Dolan is one of the top-32 seeded players who has not been in good form for months. The History Maker surprisingly won a Players Championship in early May, but since then he has been eliminated in the first round in no fewer than 20 of 31 tournaments. Ever since the 2009 edition, Dolan has competed every year at Alexandra Palace. At the 2019 and 2024 editions, Dolan reached the quarter-finals.

Chris Dobey v Alexander Merkx (R2)

The second Dutchman we will see during this session is Alexander Merkx. The 30-year-old resident from Hapert won 3-0 in sets over Stephen Burton on Friday afternoon at his tournament debut. Unlike the result suggests, Merkx's play was unconvincing. The average of 'Alexander The Great' was only 78.41. Some twenty points will have to be added to that to stand a good chance against Chris Dobey.

The 34-year-old Englishman has been performing excellently at the World Darts Championship for years. Since the 2019 edition, Dobey only once failed to reach the last sixteen in Ally Pally and the previous two years 'Hollywood' even made it to the quarter-finals. The former Masters champion was the best player on the Players Championship circuit this season. There he recorded three tournament victories while Dobey also lost two finals. At the televised tournaments, Dobey was slightly less in 2024. At the World Grand Prix, European Championship and Players Championship Finals, he was eliminated in the first round each time. Perhaps Ally Pally can bring out the good feeling in him again.

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TV Guide during World Darts Championship

Sky Sports are broadcasting the entire World Darts Championship in the UK with coverage throughout on a dedicated channel Sky Sports Darts.

A subscription is required to access this though which can be sought on a Sky box or through their streaming platform.

Prize money

The 96 participants at the 2025 World Darts Championship may divide as much as 2.5 million pounds between them. That amount is almost forty times higher than at the very first edition of the PDC Worlds back in 1994.

The 64 participants to start in the first round of the World Darts Championship will receive £7500 in prize money anyway. The top-32 of the placement list are guaranteed 15,000 pounds. These players enter the World Darts Championship from the second round. The amount then increases further each round. The new world champion will receive the top prize of 500,000 pounds.

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Format

First round: Best of 5 sets

Second round: Best of 5 sets

Third round: Best of 7 sets

Fourth round: Best of 7 sets

Quarterfinals: Best of 9 sets

Semifinals: Best of 11 sets

Final: Best of 13 sets

In the first round, there will be no tiebreak if it is 2-2 after four legs in the fifth set. In that case, the fifth leg will be sudden-death. Starting from the second round, a tie-break rule will be applied in all matches; a deciding set must be won with a difference of two legs. If the score in the final set becomes 5-5, a sudden-death leg will still be played.

World Darts Championship 2025 schedule

Saturday, December 21

Afternoon session (from 12:30 p.m.)

Karel Sedlacek v Rhys Griffin (R1)

Richard Veenstra v Alexis Toylo (R1)

Brendan Dolan v Lok Yin Lee (R2)

Chris Dobey v Alexander Merkx (R2)

Chris Dobey usually performs well at the Worlds. What can he do this year?