The quarter-final make-up of the World Grand Prix is complete after another event-filled night at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester on Thursday.
Luke Humphries, the bookies favourite now that defending champion Luke Littler is out, powered to a 3-0 win over Jermaine Wattimena with a dominant performance.
‘Cool Hand’ put in a top display as he hit a 10-dart finish in the double-in, double-out tournament. He averaged 94.11 as he proved far too strong for the Dutchman. Humphries is bidding for a fourth straight final at this event, having won it in 2023.
He said afterwards: “I’ve got a good chance of winning this. At the moment I’m a bit up and down, but if I can put that right I’m going to be tough to beat. It wasn’t the best performance, but it was a good performance. It was a lot better than it was on Tuesday.
“I think I got in every time with my first three darts. When you’re doing stuff like that, it’s going to take a top performance to beat you.”
Humphries faces a stern test in the last-eight however, against another Dutchman, Niels Zonneveld.
Zonneveld secured an eye-raising 3-1 win over Gary Anderson with some tidy finishing and big checkouts. He said afterwards: “Especially in this tournament, it is one of the biggest things in my whole career. I have achieved many things Pro Tour-wise and Euro Tour-wise but not on the main stage, just once at the World Series Finals.”
James Wade, champion at this tournament in 2007 and 2010, breezed through against Stephen Bunting 3-1. His opening was a thing to behold, with no fewer than five 160s hit with his opening three darts. That laid the foundation for a confident win against the Bullet.
The final game of the night saw Gian van Veen win a classic against Ryan Searle, 3-2. The Dutchman squandered a two-set lead as it went the distance. Searle had earlier hit a 167 checkout but fell apart in the final set, losing 3-0 in legs.
Friday night sees the quarter-finals take place with some tasty encounters, including an all-Welsh affair between Jonny Clayton and Gerwyn Price.
Friday’s quarter-final line-up:
Nathan Aspinall vs Ryan Joyce
Gerwyn Price vs Jonny Clayton
Luke Humphries vs Niels Zonneveld
Gian van Veen vs James Wade
