Luke Littler thrashes Greaves with 110 average as Humphries, Price, van Gerwen safely overcome opening tests

The title favourites have opened their accounts at the Grand Slam of Darts with Luke Littler and Luke Humphries headlining the action in Wolverhampton. Michael van Gerwen, Gerwyn Price and Gian van Veen also got off to winning starts with this new format punishing any slip-ups.

If there was any doubt over Littler’s title credentials, then they would have most certainly be abolished with a staggering 5-2 win over Beau Greaves. The two-time reigning champion averaged 109.97 to get his campaign up and running with a bang.

Littler’s scoring was stunning in the early stages, but his doubling was a point of concern, linking to his recent struggles on the oche by his high standards. He missed the bull for a 170 in the opening leg but was soon on the board. Greaves had not got into her rhythm in the scoring phase, and Littler was afforced a number of opportunities.

He was on 30 after 10 but held in 15 on double 15. Greaves finally got her first foot in the match with a 12-dart hold. A 121 finish on double 14 allowed the world number one to motor further away with Greaves taking out 71 to just stay in the match.

She was getting drowned by the impeccable scoring that Littler was producing, and despite averaging almost 104 she did not get close. Littler missed two match darts, racking his tally to 12 spurned on the outer ring, but got the job done on tops to continue his 100% winning record in this tournament.

Humphries showed glimmers of dominance in a 5-3 victory over Paolo Nebrida. It was the Filipino who got out of the blocks the quicker with an eye-catching break after misses by ‘Cool Hand Luke’. Humphries found happy hunting found on double 18 as two legs later, he was ahead.

He then teased the perfect leg, finding seven treble 20s before failing to make that switch to the 19s. He broke in 13 and backed it up with a fourth leg on the spin. Nebrida was not done yet, winning the next two legs to get the match back on throw. Humphries had missed a match dart on tops.

Three-time champion van Gerwen survived two match darts against 20-year-old Henry Coates, showing great composure to see off the talented prospect to win a Grand Slam thriller 5-4.

The Dutchman seized the initiative early on with a break of throw, reacting to send Coates a message. The young Englishman brushed it off, finishing 121 on double 14 to get back into the match. He then got back the lead on throw, producing an incredible 156 checkout with van Gerwen stranded on 72. Van Gerwen forced a decider, but Coates had the darts. He had two match darts but missed them both. Van Gerwen’s experience shone through, and he produced a brilliant win, averaging 100.42 compared to his opponents 99.19.

Gerwyn Price looked to be strolling towards a comfortable whitewash win against Joe Hunt. However, he almost blew a 4-0 lead, prevailing 5-3 after a valiant comeback attempt was halted.

Price was cruising in the first four legs, with the debutant not even getting a dart at a double. The Welshman’s guard dropped as Hunt got a first leg on the board before closing the gap to two legs. That was followed with a terrific 170 finish, showing Price how it is done after he missed the red bit earlier in the contest. The three-time champion managed to resist this pressure and got over the line with a 78 checkout in two.

The world number two, Gian van Veen, put in the highest average of the evening, taking down a commendable Carl Sneyd with a 110.51 average. He produced some brilliant darts from the off, finding his range on double 16 with some brilliant set up shots in the process being capitalised on. Sneyd stuck in there, but in the end the debutant was not on the level of ‘The Giant.’ An 11-darter put van Veen one away, and two legs later he got the win under his belt.

On paper, it seemed that Ross Smith would be a comfortable victor over Rusty-Jake Rodriguez. However, the Austrian pulled off a stunning upset, defeating the three-time major champion 5-3.

Smudger’ was woeful on the outer ring and was punished for it. Rodriguez took a 3-0 lead and double break, but Smith looked to have found his feet as he closed the gap to 3-2. A missed match dart on the bull let Smith off, but he still needed to win the next two legs. He could not banish his outer ring demons, and the qualifier nailed tops to get a massive win.

James Wade produced a very solid performance to batter Cam Crabtree 5-1. ‘Shazam’ was under the cosh in the early stages. Wade commenced with an 11-darter before backing it up with a break. Crabtree continued to miss, and ‘The Machine’ marched onwards. A 104 finish moved him one away from the win, and the whitewash looked to be inevitable after Wade left 84 after nine following six perfect darts. Crabtree had other ideas and took out 331 in six darts, with a 151 finish keeping his fleeting hopes alight.

Chris Dobey was the final player on the stage and proved to be too strong for Jan Schmidt, winning 5-2. It was obvious that the German debutant was nervy from the off, not able to convert his chances. The opposite was for recent Players Championship winner, Dobey, who took out 96 in two to take a 3-0 lead. Schmidt finally got a first let on double two but 'Hollywood' never relinquished control. He did miss a few match darts, but a leg later sewed up the victory on tops.