Luke Littler places Luke Humphries to the sword to win the World Grand Prix
Luke Littler put Luke Humphries to the sword to win the World Grand Prix for the first time.
‘The Nuke’ beat the world No.1 6-1 in Leicester to land the £120,000 prize money and add another new major in his short career.
Littler took the early advantage by holding his throw to start the game, but he had to overcome a shaky start to the second leg as he was nearly brushed, with Humphries missing two darts at double eight before Littler had even hit a double to start the leg with the iconic World Grand Prix double-in, double-out format, throwing a spanner in the works.
‘The Nuke’ took it in his stride and joked about missing 12 darts, drawing a circle with his finger and pulling a confused face before hitting the double at the 13th attempt.
Littler ultimately lost the leg, but went on to win the set to begin his charge to the title for the first time in his short career.
The world champion went on to win the next three sets 3-2, beating Humphries to the punch at crucial times in every set.
He even came agonisingly close to hitting an incredibly rare World Grand Prix nine-darter, missing the bullseye after eight perfect darts.
A killer blow was landed in the fourth set as Littler held off the world No.1’s comeback in the set from 2-0 down to 2-2, hitting double 10 with his last dart in hand, with Humphries expecting to return on 65.
But the smile was back on Humphries’ face for the first time in a long time as he won the fifth set to cut the score to 4-1. ‘Cool Hand’ celebrated jubilantly with the crowd, mostly in relief at getting a set on the board.
That feeling didn’t last long though for the world No.1 as Littler won the sixth set against the throw to move one set away from victory.
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The game and tournament was then sealed as Littler hit D20 to checkout 60.
Littler booked his place in the final by beating Jonny Clayton 5-1. He previously knocked out Gerwyn Price, reigning champion Mike De Decker and Gian van Veen, who set a record-high World Grand Prix average of close to 107 despite losing 2-0.
Humphries meanwhile beat Danny Noppert 5-3 in the semi-final after knocking out Cameron Menzies, Krzysztof Ratajski and Nathan Aspinall in a more straightforward and dramaless run to the final.
