Schedule Thursday night at Grand Slam of Darts 2023: Van Gerwen and Aspinall battle for spot in quarter-finals

Thursday night the final four matches from the second round of the Grand Slam of Darts will be played. Among others, Michael van Gerwen and Nathan Aspinall will be in action.

The first four matches of the second round took place on Wednesday night. In these, Josh Rock, James Wade, Gary Anderson and Luke Humphries secured a spot in the last eight. Tonight it is the turn of the players in the bottom half of the tournament schedule.

The first match of the evening will be between Stowe Buntz and Andrew Gilding. Needless to say, it will be the first showdown between the American qualifier and the reigning UK Open champion. Buntz caused a shock in the group stage with wins over Peter Wright and Stephen Bunting. Despite his defeat to Dave Chisnall, he still surprisingly became group winner in his group. Gilding finished second behind Danny Noppert in Group F after wins over Brendan Dolan and Haruki Muramatsu.

Noppert and Bunting meet in the second match of this session. Noppert remained unbeaten in his group, without really playing convincingly. Bunting had a slip against Buntz, but did deal with Chisnall and Wright. It will be the eighth meeting between these two players. Noppert won five of the previous seven matches, including the last four times.

Next up is Michael van Gerwen, who will take on Damon Heta. Van Gerwen started the tournament with a convincing win over Fallon Sherrock (5-1), but then had to work hard against Rob Cross (5-4) and Martijn Kleermaker (5-4). Heta narrowly made it to the last 16 by dealing with Beau Greaves (5-4) in his final group match after surviving a matchdart. Heta hasn't got a poor record against the Dutchman. The Australian won five of 14 encounters, including at the 2022 UK Open.

The dessert for the evening will be provided by Nathan Aspinall and Rob Cross. Aspinall became group winner in Group H despite his defeat against Ricardo Pietreczko, having previously defeated Beau Greaves and Damon Heta. Cross suffered a defeat against Michael van Gerwen but did pick up full points against Fallon Sherrock and Martijn Kleermaker. In the head-to-head between them, it is 7-5 for Cross, although Aspinall did win three of the last five clashes.

Stowe Buntz v Andrew Gilding

Danny Noppert v Stephen Bunting

Michael van Gerwen v Damon Heta

Nathan Aspinall v Rob Cross