Rob Cross seeded second in 2019 Betfred World Matchplay draw

2018 World Darts Championship winner Rob Cross. Picture by Lawrence Lustig

Darts superstar Rob Cross will discover who he will face in the opening round of the Professional Darts Corporation’s (PDC) 2019 Betfred World Matchplay when the draw for the competition is made next week.

The former World Darts Championship winner from St Leonards has been seeded second for the first round draw with the draw itself scheduled to take place on the week commencing July 9.

The 32-player World Matchplay will be held from July 20-28 at the Winter Gardens, as players compete for the Phil Taylor Trophy and a £150,000 top prize from a £700,000 prize fund.

World Champion Michael van Gerwen will be the top seed as he aims to claim a third World Matchplay win, while Gary Anderson will defend the title he secured so brilliantly in 2018 as the number four seed.

Tickets for the Betfred World Matchplay are still available and can be purchased through SeeTickets, Ticketmaster and the Winter Gardens Box Office.

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In the 2018 edition of the World Matchplay, Cross, who was again seeded second, strolled to a 10-5 victory over Mervyn King in the first round before suffering a shock 11-8 defeat to number 14 seed Darren Webster in round two.

This will be Cross’ first ranked PDC event since his 11-5 loss to Nathan Aspinall in the 2019 UK Open final. Last month saw Cross compete for England alongside 2019 World Darts Championship runner-up Michael Smith in the unranked World Cup of Darts.

After easing past the Philippines with a 5-1 win in the opening round, England suffered a surprise 2-0 defeat to eventual runners-up Ireland in round two.