Luke Humphries and Luke Littler stay on a collision course on the Gamers Championship Finals after progressing to the quarter-finals on Saturday.
The second and third rounds happened on a bumper second day in Minehead as reigning champion Humphries continued his defence of the title.
The world primary overcame Raymond van Barneveld and Damon Heta to keep up his bid for back-to-back Gamers Championship Finals titles, having swept apart Gabriel Clemens on a dramatic opening night time.
“I felt like I had a lot extra to provide there,” stated Humphries, who’s relishing the prospect of a showdown with Littler if each gamers progress to Sunday’s remaining.
“Luke is taking part in some completely phenomenal darts proper now. He is in all probability one of the best participant on the earth in the mean time, however I do know I’ve received a stage to match that.
“Hopefully I can get to the ultimate and provides the followers what they need, however I’ve nonetheless received a few video games to win earlier than we will take into consideration that. You can’t look too far forward.”
Recent from averaging 112.73 in opposition to Rob Cross on Friday night, Littler maintained his breathtaking type with dominant wins over Ritchie Edhouse and Danny Noppert.
The newly-crowned Grand Slam champion received an excellent tie in opposition to Edhouse, lacking double 12 for a nine-darter in a contest which noticed each gamers common 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 increase his successful run to 10 matches.
“Once I go on these little bursts, I really feel like no person can contact me in between,” claimed Littler, who has now climbed to a career-high of world quantity 4.
“I am simply very joyful to win. I performed rather well in opposition to Ritchie this afternoon, and I felt snug tonight.”
Luke Littler extending his successful streak to 10 matches as he reached the Gamers Championship quarter-finals
The 17-year-old will now renew his rivalry with World Grand Prix champion Mike De Decker within the final eight, after the Belgian conceded simply 4 legs all through Saturday’s double-header in opposition to Ian White and Niels Zonneveld.
Ross Smith additionally eased by means of 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 by means of to his second televised rating quarter-final with comeback victories over 2012 runner-up Kim Huybrechts and Sweden’s Jeffrey de Graaf.
Mike De Decker averaged 101 in a six-leg blitz of Ian White within the afternoon session, earlier than operating out a convincing 10-4 winner in opposition to Niels Zonneveld within the final 16
Elsewhere, 2023 semi-finalist Ryan Joyce survived 4 match darts in opposition to Cameron Menzies earlier than seeing off Martin Schindler 10-6 to keep up his spectacular Minehead file to arrange a quarter-final conflict in opposition to Humphries.
Joyce survived 4 match darts to win by means of a dramatic second-round tie in opposition to Cameron Menzies, earlier than seeing off German primary Martin Schindler 10-6 within the final 16.
Dirk van Duijvenbode continued his revival with resounding wins over Florian Hempel and Jermaine Wattimena to arrange a last-eight conflict in opposition to Connor Scutt, who eased previous Mario Vandenbogaerde and 2018 champion Daryl Gurney to progress.
Earlier within the day, world quantity three Michael Smith suffered a second-round exit in opposition to Gurney, with Dave Chisnall and Nathan Aspinall additionally crashing out on the identical stage.
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