Schedule Winmau World Masters 2025 Friday evening with Van Gerwen, Littler and Anderson in action

The remaining eight matches from the first round of the Winmau World Masters 2025 are scheduled for Friday night. Who will manage to secure a spot in the last sixteen in Milton Keynes? Read our preview here.

In any case, we are presented with a spectacular program. With as many as ten former major winners at the PDC, including two former world champions and the reigning world champion.

We immediately get to see an attractive draw, with James Wade against Mike de Decker. For "The Real Deal," it is the first chance to prove the PDC wrong. To the surprise of many, De Decker did not receive an invitation to Premier League Darts despite winning the World Grand Prix. En route to his World Grand Prix title, De Decker also managed a 3-0 win over Wade, meaning the Belgian is now 4-3 ahead in the mutual head-to-head.

The second match of the evening is also a match that we saw a few months back at the World Grand Prix. Then Dave Chisnall won 2-0 in sets over Cameron Menzies. Both men will play their first tournament of the new season in Milton Keynes after a disappointing World Championship. Menzies was able to get some match rhythm, because 'Cammy' had to qualify for the main tournament through the preliminaries. Menzies did so very convincingly by defeating Gian van Veen in the final round thanks to an average of 106.

Jonny Clayton faces Martin Schindler in the opening round. Clayton is ready for another good result at a major television tournament. 'The Ferret,' winner of four individual majors, reached only one quarterfinal at a major in the past year and a half and that is too little for someone with his record. Schindler had his final breakthrough in 2024 with two Euro Tour titles, but also disappointed at televised tournaments. Not once did the German make it to the last eight at a major.

Nathan Aspinall faces Andrew Gilding in the fourth match of this session, a clash between two former UK Open champions. Aspinall won that tournament in 2019, while Gilding crowned himself the winner in 2023. In 2024, Aspinall took a break to recover from a lingering tendon injury in his arm. In the fall, Aspinall declared himself pain-free, but by now "The Asp" was injured again. That was the result of a bug bite in Bahrain. Aspinall does boast a good record against 'Goldfinger'. Of his 11 previous duels against Gilding, eight were won by Aspinall, who has won all of his last four matches against Gilding.

Then Chris Dobey takes on Ryan Searle. Dobey will no doubt have traveled to Milton Keynes with fond memories, as that is the place where he won his first major title at the 2023 Masters. At the past World Championships, Dobey also showed well with a semifinal finish, earning him a return to Premier League Darts. Searle had a solid performance at Alexandra Palace, where he survived Christmas for the seventh consecutive year. Searle was stranded in the third round, however, against a razor-sharp Ryan Joyce, although 'Heavy Metal' showed good skill with an average of 101. Dobey has won remarkably often from Searle in the past. In the head-to-head, the 34-year-old darter from Bedlington leads 9-2.

Next up is the reigning world champion. For Luke Littler, it is the first time he gets to play a major tournament in Milton Keynes, as last year he was not there at the Masters. It has been several years since the world champion also won the first major tournament of the season. Peter Wright was the last to pull this trick in 2020. Littler will compete in the first round with Andy Baetens, who cleverly managed to play his way through the preliminaries. The Belgian was victorious in the pool stage against Dominik Gruellich (2-0) and Leonard Gates (2-0), before also picking up wins against Jose de Sousa (2-1), Martin Lukeman (2-0) and Darius Labanauskas (2-0). It is the first time Baetens has qualified for a PDC major outside the UK Open, as all Tour Card holders are directly qualified for that event.

Michael van Gerwen was the most successful player in the old Masters format, but can 'Mighty Mike' also assert himself at the Winmau World Masters? Van Gerwen was the best at the Masters five times in a row from 2015 to 2019, and was the only player to win this tournament more than once. Those matches all involved a format of at least best of 19 legs, now Van Gerwen will have to be right there. With a format of best of 5 sets and only best of 3 legs per set, Van Gerwen can afford few mistakes. With Bradley Brooks, he does meet a player who is well into his confidence. The World Youth Champion earned his PDC Tour Card back at the beginning of January at the Q-School, and qualified through the preliminaries for the main tournament of the Winmau World Masters last Wednesday.

A great game to end the first round with. Gary Anderson and Dimitri van den Bergh are the final two players who will compete for a spot in the last sixteen of this tournament. Anderson does have something to make up for after a disappointing World Championship. The Flying Scotsman' was considered one of the outsiders for the world title, but was eliminated in the second round by Jeffrey de Graaf. Apart from the World Darts Championship, Anderson did have a good season, including a Euro Tour title and a semifinal at the Grand Slam of Darts. Van den Bergh even won his second major title in 2024, taking the overall victory at the UK Open. At the World Darts Championship, the Belgian had the misfortune of facing an unapproachable Callan Rydz, who sent 'The Dreammaker' back to Belgium 4-0 thanks to an average of over 105.

The tournament will be shown on PDCTV to start on the preliminaries from 12pm local time in Milton Keynes but as the tournament fully starts on Thursday, it is set to see ITV4 take on the mantle.

They will show the rest of the tournament with action starting at 7pm for the first two days. But on the weekend, it is 12:45pm and 7pm starts for the remaining sessions as a champion will be crowned.

As tradition dictates, the Winmau World Masters is played in a set format where each set is over best of 3 legs. As the tournament progresses, more sets must be won to advance.

Preliminary Round: Best of 3 sets

First round: Best of 5 sets

Second round: Best of 7 sets

Quarterfinals: Best of 7 sets

Semifinals: Best of 9 sets

Final: Best of 11 sets

James Wade v Mike De Decker

Dave Chisnall v Cameron Menzies

Jonny Clayton v Martin Schindler

Nathan Aspinall v Andrew Gilding

Chris Dobey v Ryan Searle

Luke Littler v Andy Baetens

Michael van Gerwen v Bradley Brooks

Gary Anderson v Dimitri Van den Bergh