Van Gerwen meets Clayton in Jack's World Series of Darts Finals defence

Michael van Gerwen (Kelly Deckers, PDC)

Michael van Gerwen will begin his defence of the Jack's World Series of Darts Finals title against Jonny Clayton, with the draw for September's Amsterdam event confirmed.

An expanded 32-player field will compete from September 13-15 at AFAS Live, with play split across five sessions this year.

Reigning champion Van Gerwen - who won the Dutch Darts Masters on the World Series circuit in Den Bosch in January - returns to defend his World Series of Darts Finals crown against Clayton, who was the 2021 winner.

Top seed Luke Littler, a World Series winner in Bahrain and Poland, will open up against Ross Smith, while another two-time World Series winner, Gerwyn Price, plays Scottish qualifier Cameron Menzies.

Third seed Rob Cross, the US Darts Masters champion, drew Australia's Simon Whitlock, while Luke Humphries - fresh from his recent NZ Darts Masters triumph - opens up against New Zealand's Haupai Puha.

Michael Smith, Peter Wright and Dimitri Van den Bergh complete the eight seeds, and the trio drew Jose de Sousa, Dave Chisnall and Chris Dobey respectively.

2024 Masters champion Stephen Bunting takes on Croatia's Boris Krcmar, while former Amsterdam finalists Danny Noppert and Dirk van Duijvenbode will play Gian van Veen and Daryl Gurney.

NZ Darts Masters runner-up Damon Heta has drawn Gabriel Clemens, five-time World Champion Raymond van Barneveld meets Sweden's Johan Engstrom and former US Darts Masters finalist Jeff Smith takes on Rhys Griffin.

Emerging Dutch aces Kevin Doets and Wessel Nijman have drawn Keane Barry and Nathan Aspinall, who is set to make his return to action after a two-month break for treatment on an arm injury.

The first round is split across Friday's evening session and Saturday's afternoon session.

The second round is then held on Saturday night, with the quarter-finals on Sunday afternoon ahead of the semi-finals and final in Sunday's decisive evening session.

A limited number of tickets for the Jack's World Series of Darts Finals are still available via SeeTickets.

2024 Jack's World Series of Darts Finals
Draw Bracket

(1) Luke Littler v Ross Smith
Johan Engstrom v Raymond van Barneveld
(8) Dimitri Van den Bergh v Chris Dobey
Boris Krcmar v Stephen Bunting
(4) Luke Humphries v Haupai Puha
Gabriel Clemens v Damon Heta
(5) Michael van Gerwen v Jonny Clayton
Danny Noppert v Gian van Veen
(2) Gerwyn Price v Cameron Menzies
Daryl Gurney v Dirk van Duijvenbode
(7) Peter Wright v Dave Chisnall
Rhys Griffin v Jeff Smith
(3) Rob Cross v Simon Whitlock
Keane Barry v Kevin Doets
(6) Michael Smith v Jose de Sousa
Wessel Nijman v Nathan Aspinall

The schedule of play will be confirmed in due course.