Damon Heta sees off Peter Wright and reaches third World Series final of his career at the 2024 New Zealand Darts Masters

Damon Heta will take on the world number one Luke Humphries in the final of the 2024 New Zealand Darts Masters after a 7-4 win over Peter Wright in Hamilton.

After Damon Heta held throw comfortably in the opening leg, Peter Wright returned the favour in the second leg, despite narrowly missing a showpiece 121 checkout via the bull, treble 7 and then just dropping below the second bullseye and what would have been a stunning checkout.

Heta wasn't deterred though, holding throw in leg 3 before taking the first break of the match in leg 4 move two legs clear. After the Australian number one missed a dart at tops to increase that lead to three legs though, Wright broke straight back. With a third straight break of throw though, Heta moved 4-2 up as the players headed off stage for the mid-match interval.

After the break, Heta missed a dart at double 16 for a three leg lead and Wright punished to keep himself in contact and get the contest back on the darts. With his third 72 checkout of the match though, Heta broke the Wright throw yet again in leg 8, re-establishing his two leg lead. Both players had seemingly become allergic to holding throw at this point though and Wright continued the trend to break straight back again in leg 9 and close the gap.

Leg 10 once again saw the playing throwing first unable to muster anything competitive, with Heta being the beneficiary and pinning a 58 checkout for the seventh consecutive break of throw in the match, moving just one away from his third World Series final in the process. At the first time of asking, Heta nailed double top for a 76 finish and the 7-4 victory.