World Darts Championship: Luke Humphries set to face Peter Wright in last 16 match as Gerwyn Price defeats Joe Cullen in sudden death | Arrows News

Luke Humphries stormed into the fourth round of the World Darts Championship with a straight sets win over Nick Kenny, on the same night as Gerwyn Price triumphed in a thrilling first leg decider against Joe Cullen.

World number one Humphries has won nine of his last 10 matches and averaged 98.59 to secure a 4-0 win over Kenny, setting up a last-16 clash between defending champion and two-time winner Peter Wright.

Wright, despite clearly suffering from illness, produced his best performance of a difficult 2024 when he beat Jermaine Watimena 4-2.

Bryce gets the better of Colleen despite the epic ending to “Big Fish”.

Earlier, Price came off an impressive opening match against Cullen as he went 3-0 in sets and shrugged off three darts in the match while being broken three times when throwing the match.

Two of those lost arrows preceded an incredible 170Big fish' Cullen – just one second into the tournament – finished the final set tied at 5-5 and forced a sudden-death leg.

However, it was Price, the 2021 winner, who would finally secure his place in the fourth round with a seventh successive dart break as he finally found the tops with his fourth dart of the match, setting up a meeting with fellow Welshman Johnny Clayton afterwards.

“The crowd was so good behind him, I actually thought I was going to lose that match,” Price said afterwards.

“I put myself in that position, but I pulled myself out of it. I stayed in that position until the end and fortunately I got the win.

“I have a lot in my tank and I will play much better than I did tonight. I did enough to win – and I'm happy about that.”

In the second match of the evening, Wright put on a show that belied his health struggles, as “Snakebite” apologetically deprived the crowd of his signature dance moves before coughing his way through a win over Watimena.

The 2020 and 2022 champions averaged an impressive 96.19, and while Watimena himself was up at 96.50, it was Wright who delivered in the crucial moments to keep the Dutchman at bay.

He will now face Humphreys in the next round, who, although not producing his best darts, made light work of Kenny in Friday night's final contest.

The reigning champion stole the first set with a break in the first leg after Kenny missed a costly dart at double 16, while he suffered a break at the start of the second set, but any thoughts of a closely contested battle were quickly put to rest with Humphries reeling. from nine of the next ten legs – including a 145 checkout in the fourth set.

Humphreys enjoys Wright fight | “Lots to offer”

“It was one of those games I didn't want to take for granted,” Humphries said.

“I wasn't preparing. I felt like I had a lot to give, it wasn't me, just a solid performance. As long as I can keep winning every set, and not losing a set, that's all that matters.” .

“I'm not going to give up this world title without a fight. It's not my best, but when someone pushes me, I know I can deliver the goods.”

Looking forward to his meeting with Wright, Humphries added: “He said a few things in the last round. He said Barney (Raymond van Barneveld) was going to crush me and he was going to crush Jermaine (Watemina).

He added: “He said he is not afraid of me and Luke Littler, so we will see when we play again.”

The Banners cruise into the fourth round after hitting Hita for nine quarters in defeat

In the afternoon session, Stephen Ponting qualified for the fourth round by defeating Madras Razma from Latvia, while Damon Hita delivered a brilliant ball. Nine quarters In defeat to Luke Woodhouse.

Ponting is one of the dark horses of the tournament, especially with half of the original 32 seeds already out, and he beat the Razma 4-1 despite not being at his best.

The former Lakeside champion – whose previous best performance came at Alexandra Palace in 2021 when he reached the semi-finals – will play Woodhouse next after coming back from 3-1 down, hitting a nine-legged spin to beat Hita 4-3 and reach the Round of 16 for the first time in his career.

The first match after the shortened Christmas break saw Hita produce the second perfect first leg of this year's tournament, delighting the Ally Pally crowd during the second set – and Woodhouse also celebrated big in a special moment.

Dutchman Christian Keast played a perfect first match in the opening round last week and lost his match as well. The record for the most back nines in a World Series is three in 2022, so one more would equal that feat.

Hita won £60,000 for his four-nine, as did one lucky fan in the Ally Pally crowd, with tournament sponsors Paddy Power also donating £60,000 to Prostate Cancer to mark the moment.

Clayton won the other match of the afternoon as he held off Northern Ireland's Daryl Gurney to win 4-3.

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