Littler, Humphries reach Players quarters to remain on collision course
Luke Humphries and Luke Littler remain on a collision course at the Players Championship Finals after progressing to the quarter-finals on Saturday.
The second and third rounds took place on a bumper second day in Minehead as reigning champion Humphries continued his defence of the title.
The world number one overcame Raymond van Barneveld and Damon Heta to maintain his bid for back-to-back Players Championship Finals titles, having swept aside Gabriel Clemens on a dramatic opening night.
“I felt like I had so much more to give there,” said Humphries, who is relishing the prospect of a showdown with Littler if both players progress to Sunday’s final.
“Luke is playing some absolutely phenomenal darts right now. He’s probably the best player in the world at the moment, but I know I’ve got a level to match that.
“Hopefully I can get to the final and give the fans what they want, but I’ve still got a couple of games to win before we can think about that. You cannot look too far ahead.”
Fresh from averaging 112.73 against Rob Cross on Friday evening, Littler maintained his breathtaking form with dominant wins over Ritchie Edhouse and Danny Noppert.
The newly-crowned Grand Slam champion won a superb tie against Edhouse, missing double 12 for a nine-darter in a contest which saw both players average 105.
Littler then backed this up with a 10-3 thrashing of former UK Open champion Noppert, averaging 104 and crashing in seven 180s to extend his winning run to 10 matches.
“When I go on these little bursts, I feel like nobody can touch me in between,” claimed Littler, who has now climbed to a career-high of world number four.
“I’m just very happy to win. I played really well against Ritchie this afternoon, and I felt comfortable tonight.”
The 17-year-old will now renew his rivalry with World Grand Prix champion Mike De Decker in the last eight, after the Belgian conceded just four legs throughout Saturday’s double-header against Ian White and Niels Zonneveld.
Ross Smith also eased through to Finals Day, following up a brace of 6-1 wins over Dimitri Van den Bergh and Wesley Plaisier with a 10-1 thumping of 2023 UK Open champion Andrew Gilding.
Smith will now face Scott Williams, who moved through to his second televised ranking quarter-final with comeback victories over 2012 runner-up Kim Huybrechts and Sweden’s Jeffrey de Graaf.
Elsewhere, 2023 semi-finalist Ryan Joyce survived four match darts against Cameron Menzies before seeing off Martin Schindler 10-6 to maintain his impressive Minehead record to set up a quarter-final clash against Humphries.
Joyce survived four match darts to win through a dramatic second-round tie against Cameron Menzies, before seeing off German number one Martin Schindler 10-6 in the last 16.
Dirk van Duijvenbode continued his revival with resounding wins over Florian Hempel and Jermaine Wattimena to set up a last-eight clash against Connor Scutt, who eased past Mario Vandenbogaerde and 2018 champion Daryl Gurney to progress.
Earlier in the day, world number three Michael Smith suffered a second-round exit against Gurney, with Dave Chisnall and Nathan Aspinall also crashing out at the same stage.
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