Ladbrokes Masters schedule of play announced
The schedule of play has been confirmed for the 2021 Ladbrokes Masters, which will commence on Friday January 29 in Milton Keynes.
The £220,000 tournament has been expanded to feature 24 players this year, with the first round seeing the players ranked from 9-24 on the PDC Order of Merit facing off.
The action will begin as Ian White plays Mensur Suljovic on Friday January 29, before Premier League champion Glen Durrant meets Players Championship Finals runner-up Mervyn King.
World Matchplay champion Dimitri Van den Bergh then plays Chris Dobey, before Krzysztof Ratajski takes on Simon Whitlock and two former Masters finalists - Michael Smith and Adrian Lewis - then face off.
Daryl Gurney then meets Jeffrey de Zwaan, while Grand Slam champion Jose de Sousa takes on World Cup winner Jonny Clayton, before Joe Cullen's tie with Stephen Bunting completes the first round.
The second round is split across two sessions on Saturday January 30, with former champion James Wade starring in the afternoon session before Peter Wright begins his title defence in the evening, when Gerwyn Price steps out as World Champion for the first time.
Five-time winner Michael van Gerwen also opens his challenge on Saturday night, and is the 9/4 pre-tournament favourite with sponsors Ladbrokes, ahead of Price (5/2) and Wright (7/1).
The Ladbrokes Masters will conclude on Sunday January 31, with the quarter-finals in the afternoon session and the semi-finals and final in the evening session.
Worldwide coverage will be led by host broadcaster ITV4 in the UK and Ireland, as well as through RTL7 in the Netherlands and DAZN in various global territories, as well as through the PDC's global broadcasters, for PDCTV Rest of the World Subscribers and through matchroom.live.(Dave Allen)
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