Humphries dumps out struggling three-time champion Van Gerwen to reach Grand Slam of Darts semi-finals, set to face Aspinall

PDC
Saturday, 19 November 2022 at 22:57
2022GSODG2 Luke Humphries5

Michael van Gerwen's winning run (the World Championship aside) in Sky Sports televised majors this season is over with the World Number Three losing in the Quarter-Finals to Luke Humphries at the Grand Slam of Darts.

It was a 16-10 win for Humphries against an out-of-sorts Van Gerwen which 24 missed darts at doubles aside from 'Cool Hand Luke' could have been an easier task at times but he was more consistent on the scoring with a 97 average, eight 180's and a high checkout of 167.

It now comes down to a tie with Nathan Aspinall tomorrow with the opposite side of the draw seeing Raymond van Barneveld face Michael Smith, two players without major titles and two with including the 2012 champion.

To start the tie, the first two legs were shared with Humphries though leading 2-1 but the first iteration of 'Cool Hand Luke' not doing so on the outer ring let MVG off going into the interval with a 3-2 lead.

This followed a path with Humphries sealing most of the sessions narrowly 3-2, he produced a 140 followed by a monster 167 checkout to go 6-3 up but again MVG went in only two legs behind at 6-4.

MVG was struggling to find his range and Humphries broke again at 8-5 before holding at 9-5 but the pattern continued with Van Gerwen sitting three legs behind at 9-6.

On return, MVG hit a 100 checkout for an 11-darter as he looked for the fightback but Humphries produced an incredible 132 checkout to respond for 10-7.

It went back and forth again but Humphries broke at 14-9 after two missed darts at doubles from Van Gerwen and one at double 19 then went begging which allowed Humphries to make it 15-9.

MVG kept himself afloat with a 104 checkout but looked resigned to defeat as Humphries sealed the deal in one of the biggest wins of his career.

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