Luke Humphries has reached the semifinals at the
Baltic Sea Darts Open in Kiel. The world champion defeated
Michael van Gerwen and will now meet another Dutchman in the semis.
Van Gerwen threatened to go behind in the second leg, but he saved himself with a great 167 finish. Humphries took a 2-1 lead with an 11-darter, before 'Mighty Mike' took the initiative with a 14-darter and a 70 finish. However, Humphries immediately forced a rebreak with a 14-darter and regained the lead with a 21-darter in the seventh leg. Van Gerwen then missed two chances at 4-4 before 'Cool Hand Luke' took the lead to 5-3 with a 13-darter. A 12-darter by Humphries then sealed the verdict on Van Gerwen.
Danny Noppert will be Humphries' next opponent. Noppert was 0-2 down in his match against Mike de Decker, but with two 15-darters the Dutchman made up for lost time and was 3-2 ahead after five legs.
Later, Noppert threw out 118 and 136 to extend the lead to 5-3. Decker halved the deficit with a 90 check-out and could still hope for a deciding leg after missed match darts by Noppert. Decker, however, failed to throw out 65, after which Noppert decided the match via tops.