Luke Littler storms into the quarter-finals of the Winmau World Masters as Luke Humphries hits an incredible nine darter to secure a dramatic win over Luke Woodhouse.
Humphries showed off his “perfect legs” for the first time in this year’s contest, capping off a heated second set against Woodhouse. Woodhouse battled back from a 3-1 deficit to take their second round encounter in Milton Keynes to a decider.
The defending champion missed a match dart in the fifth set and wasted three more in a tense final set, taking the match to the final leg, where Humphries held his throw for a narrow victory and setting up a matchup with Danny Knoppert in the last eight.
Humphries hit nine darters in a 4-3 win over Woodhouse.
Knoppert defeated Stephen Bunting in straight sets, Josh Locke ousted former world champion Rob Cross 4-1 and Littler beat Ross Smith by the same margin in a high-scoring battle to advance to the quarter-finals.
Littler averaged 107.88 points and hit a high of eight points in a match that was described as “unplayable” in the first set, moving ‘The Nuke’ one step closer to winning the first of two PDC-ranked TV majors that are missing from his stellar darts resume.
Humphries overcomes fear after nine dart magic
Humphries won each of the first four legs and raced ahead with a 141 checkout and nine darters on D12. It was the third darter on television in the past 12 months, with both players averaging over 105 by the time they exchanged the next two sets.
Woodhouse fired a 114 finish to survive the match darts on D19, breaking twice in the fifth set before winning the next set and threatening a famous victory, but Humphries overcame further missed darts to stagger to victory with a 54 checkout and 14 darts.
“When I hit two 180s, I felt like (the nine-darter) was going to go,” Humphries said. “It was a great moment, but it doesn’t mean anything if we don’t win, so I’m really glad we won.
“Luke put pressure on me every set. He’s definitely at the next peak in his career. I think he knows he has the game to beat anyone, and that’s what I said to him: ‘The world is your oyster now.’
Humphries aims to become the first player since Michael van Gerwen to win back-to-back titles.
Littler survived match dirt in his opening match with a dramatic final-set victory over Mike Decker, but ‘The Nuke’ followed up that narrow victory with an emphatic scoring victory over 16th-seeded Smith.
The world No. 1 played just 49 darts through the first four legs, with Littler averaging 116 to begin a three-set cushion and threatening the tournament record.
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Ross Smith reacts to opponent Luke Littler hitting 11 more darters to take a three-set lead at Winmaw World Masters
Smith averaged over 102 and hit six maxes in the loss, but fought back to take the fourth set, but missed an early break opportunity in the next set, with Littler holding his throw at 120 and coming through with a 92 finish.
“We played very well tonight, much better than Friday,” Littler said. “We had to do that against Los Angeles. We always play great games, so I’m really happy to get the win. Me and Josh (Lock) have had some really good matches in the past and I hope we can play again.”
Can Josh Locke beat Luke Littler in Sunday’s quarterfinals?
Rock won the final five legs, winning 4-1 against Cross and advancing to the last eight. Meanwhile, Knoppert will face Humphries on Sunday afternoon after a resounding victory over an in-form Bunting, dropping just one leg.
Price defeats Creighton, Van Veen advances to final eight
In the afternoon session, Gerwyn Price battled back from two sets down to defeat last year’s runner-up Jonny Clayton in a thrilling seven-set battle with a stunning finish.
Gerwyn Price advances to the quarter-finals for the first time since 2022
He took the match back in his favor in the third set with an incredible 161 (one for Price’s four-plus ton checkout), and although he missed five match darts in the deciding set, he closed out the win with 14 darts.
Price next faces Chris Dobbie, who overcame a 3-1 lead against Damon Heta before winning by a tie, with the Englishman scoring a crucial 127 checkout with a bullseye to the break throw in the final set.
Debutant Jan van Veen took advantage of poor finishing from Nathan Aspinall to secure a 4-2 win, with Aspinall outscoring the Dutchman but only landing 19 per cent of his doubles and missing eight in the final leg.
Van Veen’s reward will be a quarter-final showdown with James Wade. Wade fought back from a 2-0 deficit to beat Gary Anderson 4-3 to reach the last eight in Milton Keynes for the first time since 2021.
James Wade averaged 96.71 points and scored a high of 6 points in a close victory.
Sunday’s Winmau World Masters schedule
Afternoon session (13:00 GMT)
Quarterfinals (rankings to be determined)
best of 7 set
Chris Dobie v Gerwyn Price
Luke Littler v Josh Locke
Jan Van Veen vs James Wade
Luke Humphries v Danny Knoppert
Evening session (19:00 GMT)
Semi-final
best of 9 sets
Luke Littler/Josh Locke v Chris Dobie/Gerwyn Price
Luke Humphries/Danny Knoppert v Jan Van Veen/James Wade
final
best of 11 set
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