Luke Humphries'
World Darts Championship hung by a very thin thread Thursday night, but with a hard-fought 4-3 victory over
Ricardo Pietreczko, he made it into the last 16, where a duel with Joe Cullen awaits.
The evening began with a dip for Humphries. While throwing in, the tip of one of his darts broke off. The arrow could not be repaired, so "Cool Hand Luke" had to start with a new set of arrows.
This bad luck seemed to have caused a mental blow to Humphries, who was a shadow of the player who reigned supreme in the autumn with three major titles. The Englishman still won the first set, but was not at all convincing after that.
Pietreczko took the second set, 3-1, after a 12-darter and a 14-darter, and "Pikachu" also won the third set after falling behind 1-2. Set four even went 3-0 to Pietreczko.
The German then broke Humphries immediately in the fifth set with a 19-darter. At a score of 2-2 in that set, Pietreczko was just one leg away from an incredible stunt. 'Pikachu' was not out in five visits, however, and saw Humphries win the set with a 17-darter.
That left nothing to worry about for Pietreczko, who got to start the sixth set. He won the first leg with a 16-darter, but was broken in the third leg by a 13-darter from Humphries. Suddenly the initiative was back with "Cool Hand Luke," who forced a deciding set with a 91 finish.
In the deciding set Pietreczko was out of the game. Humphries won the seventh set 3-0 to narrowly qualify for the last sixteen in London.
