The Friday night session at the 2024 World Series of Darts has reached a conclusion, with Luke Humphries and Danny Noppert taking the last two wins of the night.
Luke Humphries easily qualified for the second round of the World Series of Darts Finals. He defeated Haupai Puha 6-3. Although "Hopes" was able to keep up at first, he eventually had to acknowledge his superiority to the Englishman. Both players managed to break each other in the beginning of the match, after which Puha was the first to keep his own leg and take a 2-1 lead. In leg 4, however, the New Zealander failed completely, allowing Humphries to easily equalize the score.
From then on, things were even until the eighth leg. Cool Hand Luke' then took the initiative and with a great 14-darter put a two-leg lead on the board for the first time, taking it to 5-3. Puha could not make a fist anymore, and Humphries was able to easily decide the match and secure a 6-3 victory.
Noppert won the Dutch mutual against Gian van Veen. 'The Freeze' proved 6-3 too strong for his compatriot and will meet another compatriot in the next round: Michael van Gerwen. Noppert started strong and took the first leg in 13 darts. Van Veen immediately responded with an impressive 110 finish to level the score. In the third leg Van Veen missed four darts on double 16 to take the lead, after which Noppert hit the double 18 to take the lead 2-1.
Leg four and five went smoothly to Noppert thanks to a 16-darter and a nifty 12-darter, giving him a comfortable 4-1 lead. However, Van Veen managed to keep himself in the match with an 81 finish in 11 darts.
Noppert continued to have the better of the game and made it 5-2 via a 15-darter, putting him close to victory. In leg eight, he missed three matchdarts, allowing Van Veen to come back to 5-3. In the ninth leg, however, Noppert finished it off with his fifth matchdart and won the match 6-3.