Defending champion Luke Humphries suffered a shock first-round exit against Jan van Veen in the Players Championship final at Butlin’s Minehead on Friday night.
Humphries started the match brilliantly, taking a 3-0 lead and looked poised to build a four-leg advantage until Van Veen got on the board with a stunning 161 checkout.
Van Veen, who also defeated the former world champion in the European Championship final in Dortmund last month, took a 5-4 lead with a three-leg on the bounce.
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Jan van Veen defeated Luke Humphries 11-10 in a dramatic European Championship final to win the first major trophy of his career.
Humphries hit the next shot to force a final leg shootout, and Van Veen missed two match darts and three more in the decider, but the Dutch youngster ultimately won and qualified for the second round.
Van Veen’s win will be his fourth in a row against Humphries in 2025.
Following his Grand Slam darts victory a week ago, Luke Littler snatched the world No1 title from Humphries with a 6-1 victory over Jeffrey de Graaf.
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Highlights of the Grand Slam of Darts final between Luke Littler and Luke Humphries.
De Graaf took the opening leg, but Littler rattled off the next six legs, averaging 104, a very impressive and eerie performance.
Elsewhere, top seed Gerwyn Price defeated Max Hopp 6-2, while Josh Locke defeated fellow German hopeful Gabriel Clemens 6-3.
However, Martin Schindler defeated a limping Michael Smith 6-4 in the opening match of the night, handing victory to his compatriot.
Stephen Bunting, Nathan Aspinall, Gary Anderson and Peter Wright also won comfortably in the evening session.
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New world number one Luke Littler insists it is up to other players to prevent him and Luke Humphries from meeting in a major final and says his goal is to win a second world championship at Alexandra Palace.
Players Championship Final – Evening Session Results
main stage
Martin Schindler 6-4 Michael Smith
Josh Locke 6-3 Gabriel Clemens
Gerwyn Price 6-2 Max Hopp
Stephen Bunting 6-2 Richie Edhouse
Luke Littler 6-1 Jeffrey De Graaf
Jan van Veen 6-5 Luke Humphries
Nathan Aspinall 6-3 Karel Sedlacek
Chris Dobie 6-1 Keene Barry
stage 2
Jermaine Wattimena 6-3 Wesley Pleasure
Ryan Searle 6-1 Darren Beveridge
Richard Veenstra 6-5 Wessel Nyman
Krzysztof Ratajski 6-3 Raymond van Barneveld
Madas Razma 6-3 Dirk van Duijvenbode
Gary Anderson 6-2 Mario Vandenbogaard
Peter Wright 6-3 Joe Cullen
Justin Hood 6-4 Damon Heta
Cross, Chisnall and Clayton suffer early afternoon retirements
Rob Cross, Dave Chisnall and Johnny Clayton were eliminated in Friday afternoon’s Players Championship final, but James Wade made it through to the second round.
James Harrell secured a huge upset on the opening day by defeating former finalist Creighton with a 99.2 average.
Wade averaged 94.7 points and scored 50 percent in doubles, defeating Mickey Mansell 6-3.
The Machine said of the frosty handshake between the two players after the match. “He’s a difficult player. If he plays at his normal pace, it’s a very easy game. I shook his hand and said all the best things and everything, but he didn’t give it back. I was a little disappointed.”
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James Wade appeared furious after an awkward handshake during his victory over Mickey Mansell in the Players Championship at Minehead. Credit: ITV Sport
Cam Crabtree took advantage of Mike DeDecker’s 17 missed darts, including six match darts, to take a 6-5 victory in the doubles match.
Former semi-finalist Ryan Joyce averaged just 86.5 points against struggling Chisnall in a 6-4 victory.
Sebastian Bialecki averaged just 85.8 points in another forgettable performance from Cross, with a high checkout of 154 points in the 6-2 victory.
Grand Slam semifinalist Danny Knoppert averaged 103.8 and posted a checkout of 164 to defeat Ricky Evans 6-2.
Adam Lipscomb defeated an in-form Cameron Menzies 6-1 on his debut.
Ross Smith, Andrew Gilding, Scott Williams and Bradley Brooks also had wins.
Players Championship Finals – Afternoon Session Results
main stage
Sebastian Bialecki 6-2 Rob Cross
Ryan Joyce 6 – 4 Dave Chisnall
Cam Crabtree 6-5 Mike Decker
Danny Knoppert 6-2 Ricky Evans
James Wade 6-3 Mickey Mansell
James Harrell 6-3 Johnny Clayton
Ross Smith 6-1 Ryan Meikle
stage 2
Bradley Brooks 6-1 Martin Lukeman
Andrew Gilding 6-5 Dom Taylor
Scott Williams 6-2 Ian White
Nick Kenny 6-4 Niels Sonnefeld
Callan Liz 6-4 Kevin Deutz
Adam Lipscomb 6-1 Cameron Menzies
Darryl Gurney 6-3 Brendan Dolan
Luke Woodhouse 6-2 Alan Sarter
Ricardo Pietrezko 6-3 William O’Connor
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