Wednesday, November 27, 2024

Luke Humphries and Luke Littler ease into last eight

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Luke Humphries and Luke Littler eased into the quarter-finals of the Players Championships Finals.

World number one Humphries averaged more than 102 as he continued his title defence with a 6-3 win in the second round over Raymond van Barneveld.

He finished the evening’s action at Butlin’s Minehead by taking nine of the last 12 legs to beat Australian Damon Heta in the third round.

Humphries will next face Ryan Joyce, a semi-finalist a year ago, who survived four match darts in the second round against Cameron Menzies before beating Martin Schindler 10-6.

Littler, who averaged 112.73 in whitewashing former world champion Rob Cross on Friday, continued the form which took him to the Grand Slam title last Sunday.

The 17-year-old missed a double 12 for a nine-darter as he beat Ritchie Edhouse 6-2 with both players averaging 105.

Littler then swept aside former UK Open champion Danny Noppert 10-3.

Next up is World Grand Prix champion Mike De Decker, who dropped just four legs as he raced past Ian White and Niels Zonneveld.

Ross Smith spent even less time in dispatching Wesley Plaisier and Andrew Gilding, both for the loss of a single leg, to set up a quarter-final with Scott Williams who included a 170 finish in his 10-8 win over Jeffrey de Graaf.

The last of Sunday’s quarter-finals will see Dirk van Duijvenbode take on Connor Scutt, who beat the 2018 champion Daryl Gurney, second round conqueror of world number three Michael Smith.

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