Joyce sends van Gerwen packing and will face Clayton in Players Championship 24 semi-finals; Anderson vs Bunting for the other final spot
PDC
Michael van Gerwen failed to take the day's victory at Players Championship 24 on Friday. After a strong tournament, he lost in the last eight against Ryan Joyce.
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The three-time world champion had impressed in his two previous matches against Pascal Rupprecht and Chris Dobey with averages of 112 and 111. Against Dobey, Van Gerwen had also thrown a nine darter. Against Joyce, the Dutchman took an 0-2 lead, but the next four legs went to the Englishman. Joyce eventually won the match 6-3.
Joyce will play in the semifinals against Jonny Clayton, who was 6-1 too strong for Damon Heta. In the other semifinal, Gary Anderson and Stephen Bunting will face each other. They won over Martin Lukeman (6-5) and Daryl Gurney (6-3), respectively.
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Results Players Championship 24
Last 16
Gary Anderson 6 | 0 Kim Huybrechts
Martin Lukeman 6 | 0 Jules van Dongen
Daryl Gurney 6 | 3 Dirk van Duijvenbode
Stephen Bunting 6 | 3 Luke Woodhouse
Ryan Joyce 6 | 3 Christian Kist
Michael van Gerwen 6 | 3 Chris Dobey
Damon Heta 6 | 1 Arron Monk
Jonny Clayton 6 | 5 Joe Cullen
Quarterfinals
Gary Anderson 6 | 5 Martin Lukeman
Stephen Bunting 6 | 3 Daryl Gurney
Ryan Joyce 6 | 3 Michael van Gerwen
Jonny Clayton 6 | 1 Damon Heta
Semi-final
Gary Anderson - | - Stephen Bunting
Ryan Joyce - | - Jonny Clayton
Kieran WoodDarts Journalist
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He contributes to DartsNews.com, where he covers professional darts through news, match reports, analysis, and live coverage across the PDC calendar and major tournaments.
A key part of his work is on-site reporting from leading events. Kieran has covered the PDC World Darts Championship in person, reporting daily from the venue and providing first-hand insight from the tournament. During his coverage, he has conducted interviews with leading players including Luke Littler, Luke Humphries, and Gerwyn Price.
He is also one of the leading voices of the English-language Dartsnews Podcast, contributing regular analysis and discussion on developments across the professional darts circuit.
In his reporting, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles when new, verified information becomes available.
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- I agree,I can't believe the lack of coverage of this sad loss. Always enjoyed watching him,but I guess now it's all about littler,well it seems that way. Darts has sadly lost a good manrick6717-10-2026
- In the absence of a report regarding the death of Stefan Lord, I'll assist. An excellent player in the late 70s and early 80s, he actually won the now defunct 3rd place match at two World Championships and a couple of the News of the World Championships. A fabulous player and easily the best Swedish player ever. Rest peacefully Stefan.richieburnettrocks16-10-2026
- Joking aside, it is the second most watched sport on sky (more than golf, F1 etc) behind football only, and in participation is second to only football and swimming. It doesn't get the attention or sponsorship of "bigger" sports because it's not as sexy, but it's right up there.BandB13-10-2026
- i love darts but you can't seriously believe it's the second most popular sport in the uk. even top five is pushing it. it may be the fastest growing, though.colt13-10-2026
- I'm a big Clayton fan, but he's got this completely wrong. Qualification criteria exists for a reason - so just as failing to make the top 32/64 for the Euro championships/PT Finals means you miss out, so does not lifting a title for this one.26sForFun12-10-2026
- The players who deliberately slow the game down are usually boring and win very little in the way of silverware. Horrible to watch.MrYnyslas197112-10-2026
- [“The Gentle” then used a sweeping and questionable phrase...] You anglocucks are hilariously finished in every sense of the word.Critical99911-10-2026
- I love Jonny but I disagree. The Grand Slam was always supposed to be "champion of champions" type competition. If the top 16 are guaranteed participation in everything there will be so much less jeopardy involved in qualifying and each major tournament will lose its unique flavour which the PDC has worked hard trying to develop. I enjoy following the qualification races towards the end of the year, and while consistency should have its rewards, the truth is Jonny hasn't reached a major final all year or won a single event on the Pro Tour. Being consistent is one thing, but that alone should have consequences as the sport's elite should not be prepared to accept consistently strong performances, their foremost motivation should be to win and this should be what separates them from the rest, not the consistency of their performances. Jonny is expecting that losing should be enough; it shouldn't be, at least not as far as the Grand Slam is concerned.Deduce635811-10-2026
- Well being honest,it doesn't matter what level you play at, there's always someone who slows it down to suit themselves,and extra swig of water, replacing flights, asking the ref what the score is. It happens wherever. I'm not saying it's professional,but I'm sure we've all seen it beforerick6711-10-2026
- Agree completely. Not sure how a ranking event can have a criteria not based on rankings. And he right on popularity. In the UK second only to football.BandB11-10-2026
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