Humphries on mindset heading into Van Gerwen Masters clash: "More pressure's going to be on his shoulders than it is mine"

Luke Humphries saw off Devon Petersen easing past in a 6-1 win to begin the 2022 Masters and 'Cool Hand' was happy with his opening efforts in Milton Keynes.

"It was a steady performance. I think there was a couple of moments where I was not scoring very well and I don't think Devon punished me in certain moments to make me play well but there was a couple of good legs in there.

"But I did what I needed to do and that was to win."

It was a late replacement for Humphries with Petersen taking the place of Nathan Aspinall and he sees why 'The Asp' pulled out.

"I didn't expect Nathan to pull out but I think he did the right decision for him because this is non-ranked and next weekend's more important for him. A good replacement in Devon, I know how well he can play but he didn't play his best there. But it didn't really affect the way I would prepare for the game."

Next up is Michael van Gerwen who he beat on the stage in Milton Keynes at the UK Open and he sees it as a no pressure clash.

"When you play top players, it's always that excitement and buzz. It's great, you're always the underdog so you want to create that upset. But you know Michael's not playing his A+ game, if he can, no-one beats him.

"He's not playing like that at the moment, more pressure's going to be on his shoulders than it is mine. But in the back of his mind, he'll know how well I can play, I don't think he'll be taking the game against me for granted."