The quarterfinal round of the 2026 PDC Darts World Championship had four players win pretty convincingly, but the semifinals are bound to be closer.
Luke Littler and Ryan Searle will battle for one spot in the final, while Gary Anderson and Gian van Veen will battle for the other.
Semifinals Predictions: 2026 PDC Darts World Championship
Two best-of-11 set matches will be played in the evening session, with major implications on the line for every player competing. Here is everything you need to know about these two matches, and who you should expect to come out on top in each match.
(1) Luke Littler vs. (20) Ryan Searle
Winner: Luke Littler, 6-3
Ryan Searle won 17 consecutive sets at this year's WC before conceding a set against Jonny Clayton.
Searle's averages have been outstanding, yet he had a below-par game, for his standard in this WC, against Clayton, with his checkout percentage carrying him throughout the game.
He hasn't really had a close match this tournament, so that could be a challenge that he has to deal with against Littler, since we know Littler will pressure him and put him in uncomfortable positions.
Littler has been dominant, but it would be a shock to see Searle not put up a quality fight in this match.
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Littler should emerge as the winner if each player produces what we expect to see from them, but Searle won't make it easy for Littler.
Searle has been over 50% on doubles in three out of his five matches played in this WC, and was above 47% in the other two matches.
He'll need to maintain his efficiency on doubles against Littler, as his best shot at staying in the game might be hitting timely doubles with only 1-2 darts in hand.
Luke Littler has started some of his matches in this tournament slowly, so he'll have to make sure that doesn't hinder him this time around.
It only gets harder to beat Littler as the format gets longer, so Littler will be feeling pretty confident with a virtually unbeatable record in this type of format in his career.
(14) Gary Anderson vs. (10) Gian van Veen
Winner: Gian van Veen, 6-4
The match of the night is between Anderson and van Veen.
Both players enter the match with several high-scoring outputs under their belts in the past couple of weeks.
Each player has also taken down a top-3 seeded player in the past week, with Anderson beating Michael van Gerwen in the fourth round, and Gian van Veen beating Luke Humphries in the semifinals.
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If van Veen plays the way he did against Humphries, it's going to be very difficult for Anderson to come out on top.
It's a standard that even the likes of Luke Littler could struggle to keep up with.
Anderson had a slight dip in scoring after some explosive averages in the second and third rounds, but he's been more than competitive to have a chance at beating any player.
Van Veen has been fantastic on doubles recently, so that will be an area that Anderson can't afford to be below-average in if van Veen produces another unreal scoring display.
Don't be surprised if Anderson emerges as the winner or forces a last-set decider, as he's a much more experienced player than van Veen, who is 'in form' and has succeeded on this stage several times before.
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