Luke Humphries completes one of greatest World Grand Prix comebacks to keep hopes alive after Pietreczko clears Van Barneveld test

Ricardo Pietreczko and Luke Humphries are the latest two names to secure themselves progression into the second round at the 2024 World Grand Prix in Leicester on opening night.

For Pietreczko, against Raymond van Barneveld, the match started badly on both sides, but Van Barneveld finally managed to win the first leg with his fourth dart on the double. In the second leg things were not smooth either, but a 20-darter from Pietreczko allowed the Dutchman to extend his lead to 2-0.

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In the third leg, 'Pikachu' found his rhythm and reduced the deficit to 2-1 via double 4. Van Barneveld then had three chances to win the set, but missed. This gave the German the opportunity to level the score at 2-2 with his third arrow on double 19. In the decisive leg, Pietreczko opened immediately with his first dart, but Van Barneveld followed. After 12 arrows, both players were on a finish. Pietreczko failed to throw out 132, giving Van Barneveld another chance at 81. However, he narrowly missed the bull after a single 19 and 12, after which the German managed to win the first set via double 14.

In the opening leg of the second set, it was again Van Barneveld who got on the board first, this time with a handsome 90 finish. In the second leg, Pietreczko briefly seemed to forget he had to start on a double, as he threw his first dart on the treble 20. However, he quickly recovered and continued on the doubles. Despite this mistake, the German still managed to win the second leg via an 87-finish, which levelled the score again: 1-1. The next two legs also went with the darts, leaving a decisive fifth leg to decide whether there would be a third set or Pietreczko would decide the match. 'Pikachu' started strongly with a perfect 160, but Van Barneveld also started well. After 12 arrows, the Dutchman was on 110, but he missed double 18 to level the score in sets. Pietreczko then had one matchdart on tops, but missed. Van Barneveld then used his third dart on double 9 to drag a decisive third set out of the fire.

Van Barneveld started the decisive set badly and was not underway after nine darts, quickly facing a 0-1 deficit. In the second leg, the Dutchman narrowly missed a 130 finish on double 5, after which Pietreczko further extended the lead to 0-2 and victory seemed within reach. The five-time world champion was only away after his eighth dart in the third leg and faced the tough task of making a comeback. However, Pietreczko remained flawless and won the set convincingly 0-3, qualifying for the second round at the expense of Van Barneveld.

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In a repeat of the most recent Players Championship final, Stephen Bunting and Luke Humphries then went head to head on the big stage. Last week on the Pro Tour it was Humphries who took the glory, but in the opening set of this one it was all about Bunting. Racing through the first set in legs 18, 15 and 11, the Masters champion headed off stage a set to the good and averaging more than 100 against the defending champion.

That brilliance continued after the break too as Bunting made it four consecutive legs with a comfortable hold of throw. Kicking the next leg off with a perfect 160, the pressure was pressed further by Bunting. That told too as Humphries missed a couple of darts at double, leaving 'The Bullet' a chance to punish and punish he did moving one leg from the win. With Humphries then taking 6 darts to get in, Bunting had a massive opportunity to complete the whitewash. Requiring 67, Bunting had a match dart at double 16 but couldn't capitalize and Humphries took his first leg of the match. A few moments later the set was level via a brilliant 118 checkout by the world champion. With the pressure on both men's shoulders the scrappiest leg of the match followed, but a moment of brilliance from Humphries, hitting his first 180 of the match at the perfect time set up 50, which he cleaned up on his return to level the match at one set apiece.

Despite some trouble in the opening leg of the third set, 'Cool Hand Luke' sealed it on double 10 to nudge infront for the very first time. Holding throw in the following, Bunting did stop the rot, but took 7 darts to open leg 3 and as Humphries capitalized, he moved one away from round 2. Pinning 70 in two darts Humphries then secured an incredible comeback win.

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