Nov 24,2024
Luke Humphries and Luke Littler remain on a collision course at the Ladbrokes Players Championship Finals after moving through to the quarter-finals on Saturday.
Day Two saw the second and third rounds take place on a bumper day at Butlin's Minehead Resort, 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 titles, having swept aside Gabriel Clemens on a dramatic opening night.
Humphries averaged over 102 in beating Dutch icon Van Barneveld 6-3 in the second round, while he won nine of the last 12 legs to see off Australian number one Heta 10-6 in Saturday’s finale.
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 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.
De Decker averaged 101 in a six-leg blitz of Ian White in the afternoon session, before running out a convincing 10-4 winner against Niels Zonneveld in the last 16.
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.
Ryan Joyce – a semi-finalist in 2023 – maintained his impressive Minehead record to set up a quarter-final clash against world number one 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, averaging 99 to wrap up a 10-5 success against the European Championship runner-up.
Van Duijvenbode’s reward is a last eight clash against Connor Scutt, who eased past Mario Vandenbogaerde and 2018 champion Daryl Gurney to seal a spot in his first televised quarter-final.
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.
